The International Child Art Foundation | 1350 Connecticut Avenue, NW | Washington, DC 20036-1702

NEWS RELEASE

Sep 12, 2005

CONTACT: Media Relations
Phone: (202) 530-1000
Fax: (202) 530-1080
E-mail: media@icaf.org
Url: www.icaf.org

ICAF Announces Katrina Healing Arts Program to Benefit Kids

Dr. Ashfaq Ishaq, Executive Director of the International Child Art Foundation (ICAF), announced the launch of the Katrina Healing Arts Program at the XIII World Congress of Psychiatry in Cairo, Egypt. "We will bring together the global mental health community to help heal our children," said Dr. Ishaq, before an audience that included members of the World Psychiatric Association, World Health Organization, and International Association for Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Allied Professions. Dr. Ishaq is an Advisory Board member of the Global Child Mental Health Campaign.

In response to the December tsunami, ICAF launched the Healing Arts for Tsunami Survivors program in early 2005. Several volunteers and art therapists are currently working with children in Sri Lanka and India to help them overcome the trauma from the loss of loved ones and their homes. The tsunami relief program also included a component for American children to send artworks to the region, expressing their encouragement.

ICAF is well positioned to transfer the experience and knowledge gained in South Asia to benefit the children directly affected by Katrina. Volunteers and donations are needed to provide art workshops and art therapy programs to these young survivors. Volunteers with professional experience or training in art therapy are requested to email their curriculum vitae to volunteer@icaf.org.

Financial donations may be made by check payable to ICAF for the Katrina Healing Arts Program, and mailed to 1350 Connecticut Avenue, N.W., Washington, DC 20036. Donations can also be made online at www.icaf.org.

ICAF is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization whose mission is to prepare children for a creative and cooperative future by employing the visual and digital arts to heal, inspire and unify children across the globe. ICAF serves as a leading national art and creativity organization for children in the United States, and is the only international organization that promotes children's creative development and cross-cultural cooperation through the arts.

To see the artworks produced through the Healing Arts for Tsunami Survivors program, go to: www.icaf.org/resources/artgallery/healingarts/tsunami/index_tsunamiart.html.

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The International Child Art Foundation is a nonprofit organization that prepares children for a creative and cooperative future so they can lead us into a safer and better world. ICAF's headquarters are in Washington, DC and its European office is in Munich.