Vision Statement: “We will be a global intercultural network of circles that gathers regularly to support each member’s intercultural growth, creative expression and engagement in their diverse families and communities.”
To Guide the forming and sustaining of a circle, we
- Intentionally invite others to join who are curious about other cultures, open to sharing their own and eager to support other’s growth;
- Create a plan and arrange for the circle to meet monthly either in-person or virtually. Share responsibilities in running and documenting the meetings, inviting guest speakers, suggesting readings or discussion topics, planning field trips, arranging get-togethers, preparing dinners and projects;
- Share new ideas, experiences and resources with other circles through the network gatherings, contributions to GIC website, archive materials, internet calls or personal invitations;
- If members live at a distance from each other, consider a yearly retreat to discover a new place and its cultural contributions. This retreat can be a time to learn about each member’s journey and contributions and to discuss future plans of action.
To support each member’s intercultural growth, we
- Share our journeys through storytelling, reading narratives, or other forms of creative expression;
- Discover intercultural resources and communication skills together;
- Encourage productive experiences with others from diverse backgrounds;
- Seek to understand through discussion and introspection the changes members might experience as a result of intercultural encounters.
To foster creative expression for sharing and documenting our intercultural journeys, we
- Explore language, music, movement, play, drama, visual arts and cuisines from other cultures;
- Keep a journal of experiences in other places with other people that captures our intercultural journeys;
- Select sacred objects from our intercultural journeys to inspire new stories, poetry, artwork, music and drama.
To encourage engagement in our diverse families and communities, we
- Find an intercultural group and/or project in our communities;
- Invite diverse people from our communities to participate in activities hosted by one of the circles to become familiar with our work;
- Participate in existing groups (such as political action groups, multi-cultural groups, school clubs, church groups, community groups, etc.) to meet local neighbors from other cultures and contribute intercultural knowledge and skills;
- Volunteer for projects locally or when traveling (such as teaching, arts projects, environmental issues, etc.) and share insights from these experiences with our circle members.