INTERNATIONAL CHILD ART FOUNDATION

WASHINGTON, District of Columbia, 20037 United States

Mission Statement

To employ the power of the arts to cultivate creativity and grow mutual empathy in a world lacking these critical attributes that make us human.

About This Cause

To change the world, we begin by enriching young people's self-identity. We have 27 years of experience in students' identity development using a two-phased approach for a holistic identity. Lower SES students need help because their creative development faces a roadblock—the "4th-grade slump" in creativity discovered by E. Paul Torrance, a pioneer in creativity research. Our free-of-charge school art program, the Arts Olympiad, inspires students to embrace the "Artist-Athlete Ideal" of the creative mind and healthy body (mente sana in corpo sano). Creativity enables underprivileged youth to blaze new trails that can disrupt the vicious cycle of intergenerational poverty. The Arts Olympiad has grown since 1997 into the world's largest school art program. Empathic development faces not one but two roadblocks: Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) are a root cause for nonsocial behavior, while the transgenerational transmission of trauma and hatred precast social divisions, pitting one group against another. The World Children's Festival we produce at the National Mall across the U.S. Capitol becomes such a positive, life-changing experience that it could overpower ACEs. The festival's global community setting empowers students to disrupt the transgenerational transmission of trauma and hatred. Through educational workshops, art activities, and empathy training, the festival infuses students' creativity with empathy so they become "creative-empaths" who can work together for a more peaceful, prosperous, and sustainable future. You can help us help children transform our wounded world into a wondrous one.

INTERNATIONAL CHILD ART FOUNDATION
2549 Virginia Avenue, Nw Post Office Box 58133
WASHINGTON, District of Columbia 20037
United States
Phone 202-530-1000
Twitter @ICAF_org
Unique Identifier 522032649