The Arts Olympiad, a free global program for children ages 8 to 12, commences in classrooms with structured lesson plans that bridge the divide between athletic students and those not athletic by introducing the artist-athlete ideal of a creative mind and healthy body. Ensuing lesson plan activities result in paintings and digital art on the theme My Favorite Sport. The ‘athletes’ are encouraged to be imaginative and creative while the ‘non-athletes’ (typically prone to obesity) are inspired to visualize their favorite physical activity and engage in it.

The Arts Olympiad is the world’s largest and most prestigious art and sport program for children. Congresswoman Louise Slaughter, Co-chair of the Congressional Arts Caucus has said: “The Arts Olympiad, produced every four years by the International Child Art Foundation, presents each of us a unique opportunity to involve young artists from our Congressional Districts in an event with important national and international implications.” The United States Olympic Committee has granted ICAF an exclusive license to use “Arts Olympiad” and related marks, and USOC is an insured party for the World Children’s Festivals.

Schools exhibit the artworks produced and involve students and community leaders in the selection of school entries. The selection process emphasizes originality and innovative expression and not only technical merit. The involvement of students as judges lends to a definition of originality on an inter-generational basis.

In the United States, public and private schools, after-school programs, orphanages, juvenile detention centers and home-schoolers mail their artwork entries to ICAF.

The 4th Arts Olympiad was a most successful national and global program. The Arts Olympiad winners convened on the National Mall in Washington DC on June 17-19, 2011 to celebrate the 4th World Children's Festival.

The 5th Arts Olympiad will be launched in January 2013.

See samples of Arts Olympiad artworks in the Arts Olympiad Gallery

ChildArt issue on the theme Art & Sport (3rd Arts Olympiad) April-June 2006 (8.0 Mb pdf download)