ABSTRACT
This chapter describes how leaders from ten kulturskoler (schools of music and art) and municipalities in Norway, Sweden, and Denmark worked together with researchers and critical friends to identify and overcome hindrances for better representation of people with minority-culture backgrounds in the kulturskole and to understand how their institutions might contribute to creating more inclusive local communities. The author examines the KIL project (The Kulturskole as an Inclusive Force in the Local Community) in which the collaborative work was conducted and discusses its action learning outcomes at the pedagogical level, leadership level, and policy level. Outlining principles that the participants considered essential to accomplishing the aim of creating “a kulturskole for all”, the author suggests that this project can serve as an example of how music and art schools can work together and in collaboration with their local communities to develop their practice in order to better facilitate inclusiveness so that all individuals and groups feel welcome and take part in democratic processes.
