Today marks the end of Youth Art Month, a nationwide event in the United States which promotes art and art education among the nation’s youth. Originally called “Children’s Art Month,” this celebration of young people and art began in 1961 with the goal of “emphasizing the value of participating in art for all children.”

CULTURE, EDUCATION, SPORT, AND ETHICS PROGRAM

We certainly agree with the notion that art opens up a world of possibilities for youth to think abstractly and foster their own creativity. The Culture, Education, Sport and Ethics Program (CESEP) is one which we are honored to promote among young people around the world. This program incorporates the benefits of art and creativity into the process of learning about sport.

This international outreach program engages young people on another level. Teachers, parents, coaches, and other adults are able to follow a guide as they teach youth about important values in sport, such as remaining drug-free, good sportsmanship, and fair play. Then the children and teens are challenged to illustrate what they’ve learned. This process encourages the youth to consider what they’ve learned in an abstract way, while also activating different parts of their brain. We believe the process of both teaching the sport values and ethics while also encouraging the youth to express them creatively leaves a lasting impression.

ARTWORK SHOWCASE

The artwork we see each year of CESEP never ceases to amaze us. As the program began to grow, we decided to begin compiling these pieces of youth art into books to better share these amazing pieces all over the world. Now we publish a new book each Olympiad. For the 2014 Winter Olympics edition, we collaborated with Art of the Olympians to create a book which includes both youth art and the art of former Olympians.

Browse through some of the pages from our newest book, “Creative Spirit: Expressions of Art and Sport”:

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