International Child Art Foundation

International Child Art Foundation
Founded 1997
Founder

Dr. Ashfaq Ishaq

Katty Guerami
Type Educational Charity
Focus Environmentalism, Peace, Children, Creativity, Empathy,
Area served
International
Website www.icaf.org

The International Child Art Foundation is a nonprofit organization founded in 1997. Head office is in Washington, D.C. They enhance academic performance and instill global citizenship by nurturing children's creativity and developing their empathy, which are key attributes of 21st century learners and leaders.[1] The World Children's Festival they host on every 4 years and is the world's largest international children's celebration.[2]

History

Inspired by E. Paul Torrance's longitudinal and cross-cultural studies of the "4th Grade Slump", Dr. Ashfaq Ishaq created the ICAF to help children overcome this slump. The ICAF became the first national arts organization for American children and the first international arts organization for the world's children.[3]

Since 1999 the ICAF has produced the World Children's Festival every four years on The National Mall in Washington, D.C. to honor the Arts Olympiad winners at an event of children's co-learning and co-creation.[4]

Arts Olympiad

Main article: Arts Olympiad

The ICAF's flagship program is the Arts Olympiad. This art and sport program for children ages 8 to 12 is the most prestigious and largest in the world. The Arts Olympiad winners represent their cities at the World Children's Festival at the National Mall in Washington, DC.[5] The deadline for the 5th Arts Olympiad is May 15, 2014. The next World Children's Festival will be held in June 2015.

Peace Through Art Programs

The Peace Through Art Programs tap into the creativity of children so they can visualize with the importance of peace and co-existence. Their goal is to reduce the transmission of trauma and hatred from the current generation to the future one. The program develops empathy through art and imparts leadership skills so children can co-create a peaceful future for their communities. The program also aims to repair trust in humanity of children living in conflict zones.[6]

Healing Arts Programs

The Healing Arts Programs was started in response to the Asian tsunami of December 2004. The organization wanted to transfer the knowledge and experience gained from the treatment of the child survivors of the 9/11 attacks to help the tsunami child survivors. The Tsunami Healing Arts Program was extended to the U.S. Gulf Coast as Katrina Healing Arts Program after Hurricane Katrina.The ICAF partnered with the World Bank Arts Program in 2005 on its "Destruction, Reconstruction and Prevention" program to broaden the understanding of natural disasters in the international development community.[7]

Accomplishments

[4]

References

  1. "About Us". International Child Art Foundation. Retrieved 27 April 2014.
  2. World Childrens Festival in Washington, DC. About.com.
  3. "Ask the Expert: Q&A with Ashfaq M. Ishaq". CyberTherapy & Rehabilitation. 2012
  4. 1 2 "Impacts". International Child Art Foundation.
  5. "The 5th Arts Olympiad". The Visual Art Beat. Salzburg, Austria April 2013
  6. "Development of Children's Creativity to Foster Peace". The Lancelet. Vol. 368, December 2006
  7. Hardman, Shirley. "Katrina Healing Arts Program: A Schoolteacher’s Perspective".
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