Mission and vision

Mission
To integrate arts education with science, sport and technology for the development of creativity and empathy - preconditions for sustainable prosperity and peace in the 21st century.

Vision
To enable children to lead us into a better world.

This mission and vision are unique to the International Child Art Foundation (ICAF), a leading national art and creativity organization for children in the United States and the only international non-governmental organization that promotes children’s creative development and cross-cultural cooperation through the arts.

Intervention by ICAF
We harness the imagination of children for positive social change. Most of our programs focus on the 8-to-12 age group because of the “4th grade slump.” This age group is often overlooked because public policy usually targets early childhood or adolescence. But 8 to 12 are vital years for encouraging creativity and empathy and for a moral-cognitive approach to education. Our global art-based programs, educational festivals, interactive exhibitions, publications such as the amazing ChildArt magazine, innovative research, and the Sketches newsletter provide guidance to parents, educators, researchers and policymakers. With a decade’s experience, ICAF programs initiate a developmental and sequential process of healing, creativity, communication, empathy, and cooperation.

Outreach
We achieve our global reach through partner organizations in more than 80 countries. Examples of international partners include: ministries of education or culture in Costa Rica, Croatia, El Salvador, Israel, Nigeria, Oman and Togo; national museums in Egypt and Papua New Guinea; cultural institutions in Albania, Armenia and China; arts organizations in France, India, Korea, Pakistan and Turkey; organizations for children in Ethiopia, Mexico and Russia; and media companies in Brazil, Ghana and Italy. Since 1997, more than 5 million children have directly participated in ICAF’s programs. An estimated 10 million more children have indirectly benefited through ICAF exhibitions, publications and public education.

Governance
Registered in the District of Columbia in 1997, ICAF is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. ICAF’s Executive Board has fiduciary responsibility and oversees all operations. Several current and former first ladies are ICAF Honorary Board Members. Prominent educators and artists are ICAF Advisory Board Members. ICAF’s Youth Advisory Board is comprised of some of the most creative and imaginative children and young people in the United States and several countries around the world. Member of the Children’s Charities of America, we participate in the Combined Federal Campaign (2007 CFC # 12018). ICAF has won awards from the Leader to Leader Institute, World Cultural Open, Bravo’s National Art Education Award, and The Peter F. Drucker Award for Nonprofit Innovation.