In June 2026, Oulu became a space of connection, creativity, and critical reflection as the dialoguing@rts (d@rts) consortium gathered for a pivotal week of activities.
Framed by the European Capital of Culture 2026, the meeting brought together project partners, educators, researchers, students and local artists to deepen the project’s work and explore how the performing arts can support inclusion, cultural literacy, and dialogue across borders and traditions.
At the heart of the week was the Consortium Meeting, which opened with a welcome from Jens Knigge (Project leader) and Runa Hestad Jenssen (Project manager), followed by an online keynote from Prof. Sylvia Antonia Nakimera Nannyonga-Tamusuza (Makerere University, Uganda), “Beyond Inclusion, Towards Decolonial Praxis in Performing Arts Education: Critical Perspectives from Uganda,” which set a reflective tone for the days ahead.
Across the week, work package teams engaged in joint analysis, co-validation, and dedicated decolonial-perspective sessions spanning WP2 through WP7, including hands-on feedback on the emerging Portfolio of Collective Competences. Sessions on dissemination, ethics, and planning for the project’s final event in Berlin in 2027 rounded out a full programme.
Throughout the week, the consortium also took part in a series of interactive sessions: engaging moments led by different members, inviting participants to step away from the table and engage through singing, dancing, walking, and drawing. These playful interludes embodied d@rts‘ own belief that dialogue and learning happen not only through discussion, but through shared, embodied experience.
Beyond the internal meetings, d@rts opened its doors to the wider Oulu community through two public evenings at the Oulu Music Centre, forming part of the city’s European Capital of Culture 2026 cultural programme.
Echoes of the North: Spatial Sound, Kantele and Meditation
On Monday 22 June, the Finnish duo hakosalo_tuohino and Spanish-Finnish musician Javier Sánchez Pérez came together in a meeting of spatial sound, kantele, and meditative listening practice. It marked the artists’ first time performing together in person, after weeks of virtual creative exchange developed entirely through the d@rts project itself, a live embodiment of the project’s model of collaboration across distance.
Frode Fjellheim: Yoik, Memory and Contemporary Sound
On Wednesday 24 June, the Norwegian Southern Sámi artist Frode Fjellheim — internationally known for bringing yoik to new audiences — presented an intimate concert exploring cultural memory through song. The performance was followed by a public conversation with Frode and Sarah Foster-Sproull, moderated by Rosemary Kate Martin, on the ethics of transmitting indigenous artistic traditions across generations: questions of cultural ownership, authority, and responsibility.
The week wrapped up on Thursday with policy work, an ethics session, and a final round of interactive moments.
Throughout the week in Oulu, dialoguing@rts took shape not just in presentations or sessions, but in the atmosphere of shared purpose: in listening, questioning, and co-creating across disciplines and cultures.
At its heart, d@rts asks: How can we reimagine cultural literacy as an ongoing dialogue, one that embraces embodied expression, amplifies unheard voices, and strengthens community resilience?
We’re deeply grateful to all consortium members, advisory board members, associated partners, and collaborators who brought their time, insight, and care to this gathering, and to our hosts and partners in Oulu for making room for connection, exchange, and imagination.
The dialogue continues next stop, International Conference & Artistic Reunion 15-17 October 2026 at the Gustav Mahler Private University of Music.
Stay with us, and help shape what comes next!
