The MILKI-WAY project aimed to promote multicultural learning and social inclusion in primary schools through the universal language of music. Its main objective was to provide teachers with innovative and engaging tools to help children aged 6–8 discover and appreciate cultural diversity. By creating a Music Instruments e-Library, containing stories, images, and sounds from 15 different countries, the project sought to celebrate the richness of each culture and make migrant children feel valued and represented in the school context. Another core goal was to strengthen teachers’ professional competences, offering them a Teacher Guide with creative activities, evaluation tools, and methodologies to use music as a driver for empathy, respect, and cooperation. The project also fostered children’s key competences — creativity, digital skills, communication, and teamwork — through storytelling, podcasting, and collaborative creation of multilingual audiobooks.
The MILKI-WAY project was developed in response to the growing need for inclusive and multicultural education in increasingly diverse European classrooms. The applicant, ISA13 Istituto Comprensivo Sarzana, applied for this project to address specific challenges emerging in its local context — the rising number of students from migrant and minority backgrounds and the need for teachers to adopt innovative strategies for inclusion and intercultural learning. Through daily interaction with children from varied origins, the school recognized the necessity of tools that help teachers value cultural diversity, promote empathy, and use the arts as a universal language for connection. The project responds to this by creating a Music Instruments e-Library — a creative digital resource designed to help children aged 6–8 explore different cultures through music, stories, and sounds. The initiative also supports teachers, offering a Teacher Guide and practical activities to enhance intercultural competence, creativity, and digital literacy.