Towards an anti-racist interculturality

The first phase of the training in intercultural dialogue of the project “DRIS: Co-creating intercultural societies” has come to an end in the three cities where it has taken place (Rome, Berlin and Barcelona).  All the groups, that brought together a total of 85 participants from different backgrounds (artists, mediators, educators, researchers, cultural managers and people from the associative world), tackled issues such as interculturality, cultural democracy, the role of cultural spaces and institutions in the promotion of intercultural dialogue, strategies on the development of new audiences, as well as the role of artistic creation in the construction of narratives against intolerance and racism, have been discussed.

The pilot project in Rome, coordinated by ECCOM, involved Ascanio Celestini, actor and playwright; the curator of Teatro India Roma Francesca Corona; the director of the Archaeological Museum of Naples, Paolo Giulierini; Veronica Cruciani, playwright; Cesare Pietroiusti, artist and president of Azienda Speciale Palaexpo; Andreas Philippopoulos-Mihalopoulos, artist, professor of law and director of the Westminster Law & Theory Lab London; Christian Greco, director of the Egizio MuseumMeike Clarelli, musician; Stefano Saletti, musician and composer; Ludovico Solima, professor of Management of cultural entreprises, Università della Campania Luigi Vanvitelli ; Mohamed Keita, photographer; and Nalini Vidoolah Mootoosamy, actress, cultural mediator and professor.

The pilot project in Berlin, coordinated by ITZ, provided trainings conducted by Susanne Schmitt, artist and anthropologist; Hülya Karci, playwright; Harald Hahn, pedagogue and playwright; and Dr. Zoë Tomruk, playwright and specialist in theatre of the oppressed, together with Mithra Zahedi, theatre artist from Tehran / Berlin. They have also undertaken field visits to relevant intercultural projects: Theater der ErfahrungenLegislatives Theater Berlin; and Theater Thikwa. The topics they focused on were humour and racism; perspectives on inclusion and cultural work as a form of therapy, among others.

In the Barcelona pilot project, coordinated by Interarts, the training programme was designed in partnership with Eva García, ComuArt. It involved Cristina da Milano, president of ECCOM; Yásnaya Aguilar, Mixe linguist and activist; Daniela Ortiz, Peruvian artist; the BCN Acció Intercultural programme of the Barcelona City Council and cultural sociologist Estefanía Rodero. Field visits were carried out to the project  “Som aquí per a millorar les nostres vides“ a project of Vulnus, Arts Vives i Recerca in association with the independent artist Marta Galán, and to the project Cinema en curs of A Bao a qu with Laia Colell. For further information, please click here.

In the autumn, the three pilots will start the participatory planning phase and will work on the design of one or more artistic projects based on participatory planning and co-design methodologies.  These projects will be implemented by the participants at the end of 2021, involving members of migrant associations and communities, followed by a short period of arts residencies in the three cities to exchange experiences and best practices.

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