Interculturalisation | Flanders Arts Institute

Flanders Arts Institute supports the process of interculturalisation in the arts. This page will guide you through the topic. We address the following questions:

What is interculturalisation?
What is the role of Flanders Arts Institute?
What steps can organisations take?
- Where can I find concrete tips to interculturalise?
- How do I change from a project-based to a more structural approach?
- Which practical experiences give insight into possible challenges and enrichments?
- What information and tools are available for interculturalisation?
- Which experts and organizations can guide interculturalisation projects?
- Where can I look back – and forward – to Flanders Arts Institute’s activities concerning interculturalisation?

What is interculturalisation?

Our society is becoming increasingly diverse, a diversity that includes ethnic and cultural backgrounds. This ethnic-cultural diversity is, however, only rarely reflected in the professional arts, and this is a missed opportunity! Potential art workers, artists and art audiences remain underexposed and unreached. Even though this potential and this shortcoming are almost always acknowledged, the staffs, operations, and audiences of arts organisations continue to show little ethnic or cultural diversity.

In their handbook, Intercultural Competence, the Centre for Intercultural Management and International Communication, or CIMIC, discusses challenges for arts and cultural organisations regarding ethnic and cultural diversity. The book also lists a number of important preconditions needed in order to tackle ethnic-cultural diversity in the right way, such as support from governments and support centres (such as Flanders Arts Institute), the sharing of experiences and good practices and the adoption of an integral and transversal approach.

What is the role of the Flanders Arts Institute?

Among other things, Flanders Arts Institute supports practice in the arts. To do this, Flanders Arts Institute does its best to guide the arts sector towards an integrated and transversal approach to interculturalisation. In line with our vision, we do this by:

(1) Creating space for permanent interculturalisation in our own operations, and ensuring that this theme is on the agendas in the arts sector and in governmental policies on the arts.

(2) Development and support in practice in the arts: bringing together and supporting knowledge and expertise about interculturalisation, and sharing it with the arts sector (to read more, see: ‘Steps organisations can take to interculturalise’).

(3) Monitor what is actually taking place in terms of interculturalisation, including both the challenges and the enrichments it brings (see Landscape Sketch 2019, from p. 127, and the chapter on ‘Cultural and Social Diversity’ in Compendium: Cultural Policies and Trends 2021).

What steps organisations can take?

Start Now!

Where can we find concrete tips to interculturalise? Concrete tips for arts organisations can be found on our Advice Page (in Dutch).

Gain greater insight!

Delve more deeply into the theme. Our Interculturalism Dossier provides more in-depth content, such as:

How do we move from a project-based to a more structural approach? Read more about an integral approach to interculturalisation here.
What practical experiences provide useful insight into possible challenges and enrichments? Here is an overview of available podcasts (in Dutch and English) that present inspiring voices and practical experiences.
What information and tools (in Dutch) are available for interculturalisation?
Literature (list in Dutch) that will help you interculturalise: these include screening tools, roadmaps, and manuals.
Which experts and organisations can guide interculturalisation projects? Here is a selection of experts and organizations (in Dutch) that provide guidance.

Where can I look back – and look forward – to Flanders Arts Institute’s activities that highlight interculturalisation?

Cultuur intercultureel: naar een duurzame, inclusieve cultuursector. (Intercultural Culture: Towards a Sustainable, Inclusive Cultural Sector), a three-part series (2021) in collaboration with deBuren and Sociaal Fonds Podiumkunsten. In Dutch. The knowledge acquired during this series has been collected and is published on our website.
In the praktijkgemeenschappen interculturaliseren (Practice Communities for Interculturalisation), practitioners share (learning) experiences, successes, obstacles and challenges beyond the boundaries of their own organisations. Experts moreover provide examples, tools and literature.
Upcoming activities can be found on our Meetings and Programmes page.