Art from European Festival to Travel the World

This year’s largest international children’s celebration– the First European Festival of Children’s Art & Creativity -- will be held on May 27-31, 2006 at the Olympia Park in Munich, Germany.

Children from across Europe and special guests from the United States as well as Australia, Ghana, Kenya, Pakistan, South Korea, Sri Lanka and the United Arab Emirates will together paint a 100-meter long mural-flag at the Olympia Park. Children will have the opportunity to experience and express their collective creativity, depicting their imagination and fantasies, joys and concerns for the future. The colorful flag-mural will symbolize the hope of children around the world for a peaceful and creative global community.

On May 31st the flag-mural will be hoisted in a televised ceremony onto the Olympia Park Tower. This will be a historic moment because permission to use the Olympia Park Tower has never been granted before, and now children have won the right to showcase their art and creativity and its relationship to sport and peace building. On May 31st, the Olympia Park Tower will be transformed into an international icon for peace and friendship.

The children will also paint flags to be transformed into a sail for the ship “Mau Yee.” The sail will travel by road from Munich across Bavaria to Austria, onto Italy and finally to Slovenia, to the homeport of “Mau Yee” in Adria, where a festival handing-over ceremony will take place on June 5th. The European UNESCO schools and the Bavarian Academy for Foreign Trade (BAA) are collaborating with ICAF and the captain of “Mau Yee,” which will travel from port to port, carrying children’s messages for a creative and peaceful future for all.

The festival is chaired by Lord Mayor Christian Ude of Munich. Festival patrons include Maestro Zubin Mehta, conductor of the Bavarian State Opera and Orchestra. Festival supporters include Mr. Wilfrid Spronk, Director, Olympiapark Munich GmbH, Mr. Michael Schanze, and Ms. Petra Perle. ICAF thanks its sponsors for their generous support: Olympiapark München GmbH, Munich Re Group, Galeria Kaufhof am Marienplatz, KMS Team, Starbucks Coffee Deutschland GmbH, Haberl Gastronomie GmbH & Co KG, Langnese-Iglo GmbH, Mehler Texnologies GmbH, Ingenieurbüro Placht und Partner GmbH, MaXxprint GmbH, Lascaux Colours & Restauro Barbara Diethelm AG, Höherettungsgruppe der Berufsfeuerwehr München, Borkner Feinweber Tellmann Architekten BDA, Deutsche Funkturm GmbH, das freelance team and Fotografie Stegner.

The International Child Art Foundation employs the arts to heal, inspire and unify children and peoples across the globe. www.icaf.org. To learn more about the “Mau Yee” visit www.mau-yee.de. Olympia Park website is www.olympiapark-muenchen.de.