Abstract
The International Child Art Foundation (ICAF) brings about positive change through its national and global programs, traveling exhibitions, conferences and events, and the World Children's Festival (WCF).The Arts Olympiad is the ICAF's flagship program. Like the Olympics, the Arts Olympiad has a four year cycle. It commences in classrooms with structured lesson plans that introduce students to the "Artist-Athlete Ideal" of the creative mind and healthy body. The self-image as "artist-athlete" solidifies when a child renders it into a personal work of art. In the second year, local exhibitions provide communities an opportunity to celebrate the creativity and artistic talents of their children, and to select the winners to represent their school district or country at the WCF. The WCF in the third year provides a global community setting for the development of empathy, so the children grow up to be creative and empathetic global leaders. In the fourth and final year, the International Arts Olympiad Exhibition travels to major venues to grow awareness of the importance of fostering creativity and empathy in world, with children as the catalysts.
DOI
10.5642/steam.20180302.03
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.
Recommended Citation
Ishaq, Ashfaq
(2018)
"World Children’s Festival: The Art of Empathy,"
The STEAM Journal:
Vol. 3:
Iss.
2, Article 3.
DOI: 10.5642/steam.20180302.03
Available at:
https://scholarship.claremont.edu/steam/vol3/iss2/3
Author/Artist Bio
Dr. Ishaq is an experienced entrepreneur, educator, manager, researcher, and civil-sector leader. He holds a Ph.D. in economics from the George Washington University, where he later served as adjunct associate professor of economics. He began his professional career at the World Bank, analyzing industry projects and conducting research on entrepreneurship. During that time he co-authored 'Success in Small & Medium Scale Enterprises' (Oxford University Press, 1987). His recent book is 'The Creativity Revolution: Reinvent Your Creative Self to Shape the Future and Prosper' (ICAF Print, 2013). In 1997 he founded the International Child Art Foundation to nurture creativity and develop empathy in the world’s children through the power of the arts. The Arts Olympiad program he developed has grown into the world’s largest and most prestigious art and sport program for children. As a cultural leader, Dr. Ishaq holds the distinction of organizing and producing the first national children’s art festival in U.S. history, which was held in Washington, D.C. in 1998. Since 1999, he has produced the World Children’s Festival every four years as the “Olympics” of children’s imagination and co-creation. He secured an exclusive license from the United States Olympic Committee for the ICAF to use “Arts Olympiad” and related marks. To date, more than five-million children worldwide have benefited from the Arts Olympiads. Since 1998, nearly one million people have participated in the festivals and exhibitions hosted by the ICAF and its national partners. www.icaf.org