Art in All of Us is a 501( c)3 not-for-profit organization that works with children from around the globe promoting cultural tolerance through artistic communication. AiA formed from a shared love of art, children, and culture, and is created around the simple premise of Art as a universal language. AiA works with children from age’s eight to twelve opening their eyes to new cultures and new ideas. AiA has traveled to over 150 countries working to institute a curriculum in schools everywhere that will yield a greater awareness of the diversity of global citizens.

Art in All of Us has obtained the formal support of the UNICEF in New York,[1] which will help us to achieve their mission and promote it on a larger scale. To fulfill its mission and to stimulate children creativity, Art in All of Us has developed three programs:

1. The AiA Art Pen Pal Program: organising child art exchanges between schools.

2. The AiA World Art Book Program: Publishing art books by children representing all the 193 countries

3. The AiA Awareness Program: Teaching global awareness to children and introducing them to Global Citizenship.

The Founders

Anthony Asael and Stephanie Rabemiafara the founders and lead photographers, of Art in All of Us(SM) (AiA). They have strong economical and managerial background as such as extended foreign trade professional experiences. Both decided to give up their previous life and to dedicate their next years to the mission of AiA.

Anthony Asael, President, is the founder and executive director of AiA. Having traveled throughout the world and met different cultures, Anthony aims at building more tolerance through ARTistic communication. He wants AiA to be the international platform of art exchanges among children from all the countries of the world. A graduate of Solvay Business School in Belgium, he held management positions at various IT and telecommunication companies. He’s been dedicating 100% of his time to the nonprofit sector since 2005, when he co-founded AiA with his partner Stéphanie Rabemiafara. His famous expositions of “Colors and Scents” and the “UN Millennium Goals for Development through the eyes of the children” and his vivid work have been exhibited on several continents. Lately, he has won several International photography prizes. More of his work can be seen online at www.photo-art.be or anthonyasael.com

Stephanie Rabemiafara is the founder, treasurer and program officer of AiA. She was born in a Madagascar, in a bi-national family, and has shown interest in cultural diversity and exchanges since her early age. She has lived in Madagascar, Belgium, Germany, and Chile, impregnating herself of the local customs and cultures. Convinced that all the children should also be confronted to cultural diversity in order to raise interest and tolerance for foreign cultures and people, she created AiA with Anthony Asael, giving children voices and the opportunity to know each other better. Rich of her personal values, her experience in different countries, and her professional work as an auditor for different auditing companies (PricewaterhouseCoopers and Deloitte), she is dedicating her full time to AiA. Her work is focused on the programs implementation, as well as on the accounting.

The Participants

All the participants to the project are volunteer workers. The team's main strength is its multicultural origins. It is spread out on several continents, enabling AiA to open it's vision, which is very important for the project.

AiA’s Mission

The mission of AiA is to develop the creativity, curiosity and artistic sensitiveness of some children of the world by letting them discover the world of poetry, drawing and photography. AiA is convinced that the construction of a better and fair world needs to be transmitted through the education of the less advantaged person. Therefore, AiA has decided to focus its project on children, since in most countries they are only considered as half a person, and do not benefit from the right to express themselves. It is AiA's duty to give them a voice.

AiA’s Vision

The vision of AiA is to educate for Global Citizenship thanks to artistic activities and promote across borders multicultural understanding and exchange. Furthermore, Art in All of Us is convinced that through Art, we will be able to share and learn about individual cultures and diversity. The children illustrate their vision and wishes in their own way and learn to understand and to embrace the similarities and difference between people across the world. Education for Global Citizenship is essential today, for more respectful and diversity valuing adults in the world of tomorrow.

AiA’s Goal

The goal of AiA is to bring some of this hope and acceptance learnt from children all over the world to the people who don't have the opportunity to travel or don't have access to such cultural awareness. AiA deeply believe that through emphasizing the knowledge of cultural similarities and differences on a worldwide scale, it will offer some more open-mindedness, tolerance, curiosity of the 'other', and of the 'unknown'.

AiA’s Programs

1. AIA PEN PAL PROGRAM:

This cornerstone initiative promotes artistic communication between children of different countries. A local Art in All of Us ambassador will assist the school on the organization of the workshop and together with the ‘pal’ school, he or she will choose a subject and an art form for the children to communicate with. Each student will then begin exchanging their creations and thoughts with a child living in another country, in another culture. By allowing the children to match up with another child in another city, town, or country, they take steps toward becoming a more peaceful and understanding community.

2. AIA WORLD ART BOOK PROGRAM:

To be published by late 2009, the World Art Book will be presented to each and every one of the schools AiA has visited in 193 UN-listed countries. The Book is filled with portraits and poetry written by local children and will present the 193 countries through the children artworks and photographs. It features photographs and copies of children’s poetry and drawings. The photographers are AiA’s founders, Anthony Asael and Stephanie Rabemiafara.

3. AIA AWARENESS PROGRAM:

The Awareness program introduces poetry and photography into schools while promoting multicultural exchanges through interactive art activities. The AiA curriculum, led by an AiA team member or local teacher, works with eight to twelve year olds guiding, teaching, and helping them understand different cultures similarities and differences through artistic expression. Playing games, singing songs, and of course drawing and crafting priceless work immerse the children in the fascinating world of culture and communication. And all while mastering their skill at a new language – Art!

4. CURRICULIM DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM:

The core initiative is the World Curriculum Program. Art in All of Us is working to cement an educational curriculum based on children artworks from 193 countries. To teach children tolerance of other cultures, present a wider diffusion of children’s art in different schools, and make material that may not be available to some schools all available online. The AiA curriculum to be easily replicable and at no cost to the schools involved.

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