Élan Interculturel

Élan Interculturel is an association under the law of 1901, recognized as being of general interest, which has been working in the field of intercultural relations since its creation in 2008. The project was born out of a meeting between five immigrant women from different countries who are doctoral students in intercultural psychology. Today, the team includes 12 employees and 7 civic service volunteers from 4 continents and 8 different countries. 

Élan Interculturel’s mission is to research, create and share with society as a whole creative and playful educational strategies to bring more clarity to intercultural dynamics and more openness to the other on an individual and collective scale. Élan Interculturel encourages exchanges and intercultural dialogue to facilitate communication between people and thus “better live” cultural diversity. We also have a long expertise in work with young people in difficult situations: our key mission is to overcome the application of stereotypes, preconceptions, and discrimination that often comes along with manifestation of diversity and constitute a risk to equality. To do so, Elan creates pedagogical tools (European projects), does training for professionals in the social, health and education fields, and workshops for learners. 

Inspired by the conviction that artistic creativity can feed social, intercultural, interpersonal creativity, we use art mediation as a pedagogical tool. In particular, dance is a privileged practice for developing social and emotional learning skills (SEL skills) and develop competencies in non-verbal communication within intercultural contexts. Movement and artistic performance allow participants to refocus experiences within their bodies and emotions for the purpose of empowerment in their daily life, in relationships and communication situations.