Cultural intelligence is becoming an increasingly important skill in today’s global society, since it enables us to understand the influence that culture can have on society and social behaviour. The ability to understand and accept different cultures and their diversity is key for success in all aspects of our lives.

Cultural intelligence is defined through three components – cognitive, emotional, and physical. The cognitive component (mind) pertains to the ability of a person with highly-developed cultural intelligence to devise learning strategies that enable the identification of ways of mutual understanding. The emotional component (heart) is simply a matter of trust and motivation. A person with high emotional intelligence completely believes to be able to overcome difficulties and is highly motivated to do so. The physical (body) component consists of cultural gestures one is willing to perform. For example, greetings differ between cultures – some people shake hands, others kiss, or even hug, while some do not touch one another or establish eye contact.

In order to develop the cultural intelligence of adult learners across Europe, the ACT-IT-OUT project suggests an innovative approach to using creativity in cultural education by mapping the components of photography, song, and performance onto the proposed 3P programme.

Within the proposed 3P programme, ACT-IT-OUT partners will be using the medium of photography to support adult learners in the development of their cognitive cultural awareness – to take photos that represent understanding between different cultures and support adult learners to develop the understanding of their own culture, as well as the way it affects their view of the world and other cultures.

When it comes to the emotional component, and based on photos taken by adult learners, project partners will support learners in the drafting and writing of short poems that will serve to express their feelings and motivations regarding cultural issues. The process of writing these poems will also help adult learners to evaluate their emotional responses to certain aspects of culture and to evaluate their motivation for developing cultural intelligence.

Finally, the physical component will be addressed through supporting adult learners in the development of their performance skills. The performance-related resources developed within this programme will serve to support the development of adult learners’ skills necessary to perform the poems they have written, including actions, gestures, and movements synonymous with their own, as well as with other cultures.

ACT-IT-OUT partners believe this to be a unique format for the development of adult learners’ cultural intelligence.

Basically, ACT-IT-OUT aims to encourage adult learners across Europe to use these artistic disciplines to develop their own cultural intelligence and promote cultural diversity in European society as a whole. In order to achieve this, we will develop three key intellectual outputs and work with our partners on the development of a project that is relevant and aligned with this purpose.