For many years, the IYMF has used storytelling to move towards cultural diversity (« Nomadic Tales », « Children from here, Stories from afar », « Tiny, Tiny and the Seven Worlds ») and in 2008, IYMF proposed an original European project selected as a flagship project for the EU: « iyouwe SHARE THE WORLD » under the common theme: « How was the world born? ».

The objective is to increase the awareness of primary schools to intercultural dialogue by encouraging exchanges between artists from diverse cultures, thus recreating a chain of diversity; developing a network of experiences and finally organising a closing event with European press coverage in December, the highpoint of the year 2008 nominated European Year of Intercultural Dialogue.

Developed in the seven participating countries – Italy, Portugal, Hungary, Scotland, France, Germany and Belgium – the project « iyouwe SHARE THE WORLD », is structured around five work stages. During stage 1, from January to June 2008, the actual artistic work took place involving around 350 children in 14 schools and rallying 14 artists from various disciplines, including 7 storytellers. Each class, lead by a storyteller from another country or culture, creates a story and passes it on to another class in another country which will give an artistic format to the given story (film, sound, theatre, dance). Stage 2 took place in July in Hungary with the organisation of a reflection and sharing seminar lead by the Belgian Hamadi, artistic director of the Maison du Conte in Brussels. From June to October, during stage 3, pedagogic and dissemination tools were produced: a DVD, a website, the launch of an intranet of the project and the publication of a book of the stories created by the children and the artists. Stage 4 was held at the Cirque Royal in Brussels on 3 December 2008 with a concert bringing together world famous musicians around the theme « Share the World »: Youssou N’Dour, Natacha Atlas (to be confirmed), Trio Loyko and Iva Bittova who created an intercultural dialogue in song and music, introduced by the storytellers of the project. This performance on 3 December aimed at a wide audience. The presentation was realised by Hamadi on the French-speaking side and Tom Vout (Dutch-speaking side). Stage 5 corresponds to the ongoing evaluation of the project.

In addition to the Belgian storyteller Hamadi, other experts and artists were in charge of the various aspects and stages of the project : the visual artist Patries Wichers, Andor Timar, audiovisual expert and Julie Godfroid, in charge of the evaluation of the project, all sharing a significant practical experience in their field of activity, and in the MUS-E network.

The project is one of seven flagship projects selected for co-funding by the European Commission in the context of the 2008 European Year of Intercultural Dialogue. These emblematic actions aim to raise awareness of the benefits of intercultural dialogue by reaching out, directly or indirectly, to as many people living in Europe as possible. More information on all the projects and initiatives of the Year is available on its official website: www.dialogue2008.eu