Context and Goal
People who work for the United Nations in Vienna often tend to stay within their expat bubble. They go to work, meet other international people, have no purpose to learn the local language, and have no opportunity to mingle with natives. The Vienna Service Office felt they needed to do something about this.
Cross-Cultural Lounge for UN Employees
The Method
We launched a series of cross-cultural learning experiences - creative cross-cultural meet-ups - that targeted open-minded and curious members of the international community and Viennese people. The events took place after work and provided a creative hub where people of different cultural backgrounds could get to know each other and started building relationships. The community of practice model served as a communicative framework.
Benefits for ParticipantsEvent participants enjoyed the relaxed and cheerful atmosphere as well as the creative sparks. They managed to break down cultural and language barriers and engaged in interesting conversations. Participants discovered a lot of things about their guest culture that they had not known before. Likewise, local people were excited to get in touch with different nationalities and to practise their English. We are told that some connections have turned into real friendships over the years.
If you want to set up successful art-inspired, cross-cultural events, please contact Christina Merl.