The iSTART Children’s Art Festival, curated and initiated by the A4 Art Museum since 2014, is a pioneering child creativity and social arts education project in China, focused on child participation, empowerment, and co-creation. In 2024, the 10th edition of the iSTART Children’s Art Festival will open at the A4 Art Museum on Children’s Day. This year’s theme, \u201cSmall Nature, Big Families,\u201d aims to explore children’s natural experiences and the necessity of growing up in a supportive social environment. It seeks to reactivate and connect the elements of \u201csmall nature\u201d and \u201cbig families\u201d to support children’s growth in a more natural and supportive environment.<\/p>\n
\u201cSmall Nature\u201d focuses on the direct and micro interactions between children and nature. Children have an innate need to connect with nature, yet face challenges such as diminishing opportunities for natural contact and weakened sensory perceptions due to modern societal structures and trends. \u201cSmall Nature\u201d represents the natural elements children can encounter in everyday life, like sand, water, and leaves. Through spontaneous and exploratory interactions with these elements, children’s curiosity and creativity are sparked. These everyday, minor natural experiences lay the foundation for children to form their intuitive understanding and feelings about nature.<\/p>\n
\u201cBig Families\u201d extends to the community and societal level, emphasizing the importance of a supportive social environment for children’s development, especially in the face of various challenges today\u2014lack of social support systems, disordered family and community relationships, educational pressures, etc. Beyond a child\u2019s immediate \u201csmall family,\u201d the surrounding people\u2014friends, teachers, community members\u2014and environments\u2014schools, parks, natural settings\u2014constitute important components of a child’s growth. This \u201cBig Families\u201d provides a diverse ecosystem where through interactions and support within this system, children can grow and develop better.<\/p>\n
The \u201cSmall Nature, Big Families\u201d exhibition is driven by the iSTART co-creation team and focuses on education, charity, medicine, and game research among other fields. It brings together the wisdom and creativity of scholars, teachers, and artists from various sectors, showcasing a series of interdisciplinary collaborations. Highlights include the \u201cPanda Project\u201d launched in collaboration with the Yunhe Center, focusing on children’s perspectives on panda habitat conservation; the \u201cWarrior Cats\u201d in partnership with the Luxeslakes Community, a stop-motion animation reflecting children’s care for community stray cats; the \u201cMei Wan Mer Liao\u201d bookstore co-planned with Bai Xue; and the \u201cT+ Aesthetic Education Development Support Program for Rural Educators\u201d co-planned with Gong Yu, displaying works from over a hundred teachers and organizations. Additionally, collaborations such as \u201cMy Day\u201d with the Dream Building Service Association, showcasing Sino-African children’s cross-cultural exchanges through storybooks; \u201cArt Therapy and Children in Distress\u201d project with the Huaxi Hospital Mental Health Center, highlighting the role of art in youth mental health. Moreover, visitors can explore the \u201cGaga Nation\u201d co-created with ZM Art Education and the \u201cFamily Museum Project\u201d co-created with Deng Dafei. The exhibition offers a gamified setup through cooperation with \u201cHomoludens Archive,\u201d allowing visitors to experience the exhibition in a playful way. During the exhibition, education forums and public events for children, parents and teachers will also be held, providing a platform for in-depth interaction and learning.<\/p>","protected":false},"featured_media":3910,"template":"","categories":[1],"exhibitions_category":[60],"class_list":["post-3811","exhibitions","type-exhibitions","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-a4-art-museum","exhibitions_category-istart"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.a4artmuseum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/exhibitions\/3811","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.a4artmuseum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/exhibitions"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.a4artmuseum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/exhibitions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.a4artmuseum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3910"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.a4artmuseum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3811"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.a4artmuseum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3811"},{"taxonomy":"exhibitions_category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.a4artmuseum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/exhibitions_category?post=3811"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}