The goal of this project is to build public environmental awareness in both China and the U. S., and to promote good relations on environmental issues between the two countries and the world through the medium of children’s art. CAEP Committee members (link to the list) are volunteers from varying fields of work, who share an interest in US-China relations and common vision: to use children’s art as a medium of communication that can cross linguistic and cultural barriers in the pursuit of a better global environment.

Phase One: Environmental Art Competition in China

The Children’s Art on the Environment Project began it’s work by promoting a nation-wide art competition in China, to be co-sponsored by in the U.S. by The 1990 Institute, and in China by The Center for Environmental Education and Communication of the State Environmental Protection Agency (CEEC-SEPA), and The China National Children’s Center (CNCC ) in Beijing.

The organizers believed that beginning the project in this way would be truly significant for Environmental Protection as it could impact not only a potential one million child artists in China but also the teachers, possibly two parents and four grand-parents of each child: more than six million Chinese people in the first stage alone! The additional potential of showing the winning art works in the United States gave everyone even more incentive to participate and to perform. The sharing of ideas with American children could build bridges of understanding and shared responsibility for our planet.

The 1990 Institute and CEEC-SEPA began corresponding on Feb. 26, 2001. A co- sponsorship agreement was signed in July 2001. Sufficient funding for stage one was secured in Feb. 2002, so CEEC-SEPA got the green light to begin a nation-wide competition among one thousand plus communities and approximately one million Chinese children, ranging in age from 5 to 16.

Minister Xie Zhenhua of China’s SEPA, and Mrs. Sarah T. Randt, wife of U.S. Ambassador to China agreed to be Honorary Co-Chairs for this Project, giving the
Contest greater recognition as an important international cross-cultural effort. The
1990 Institute invited a group of distinguished friends from China and the U.S. to be Honorary Advisors. These include American author-historian David McCullough, and painter-stage designer and educator, Prof. Ming Cho Lee, Yale School of Drama. More

Six months later, in August 2002, twelve judges – four invited from each sponsoring organization – gathered in Beijing for two days and reviewed the six hundred and six finalists to chose one hundred winners. The children’s artwork was separated into three age groups: 5 to 7, 8 to 13, and 14 to 16. Winners represented cities and provinces across China – including Chongqing in the West, Guangzhou in the South, Fujian in the East, Yunnan in the SouthWest, in Central China Zhejiang, Xinjiang in the NorthWest, and Liaoning in the NorthEast. Hooray for the girls! Sixty of the one hundred winners this time were girls, and the youngest winner is a five-year-old little girl.

On Oct. 26, 2002 a gala Opening Ceremony was held at the Auditorium of The China National Children’s Center (CNNC) in Beijing. Mme. Gu Xiu Lian of the All China Women’s Federation (ACWF), Minister Xie, Mrs. Sarah Randt and a stage full of other dignitaries participated at the ceremony together with hundreds of children, their parents, relatives, and teachers. The event was covered by China National TV, local Beijing TV, National and local newspapers, and various professional magazines specializing in Art, Children, Education and, of course, the Environment. The first phase of CAEP sucessfully raised public awareness of children’s concerns about the environment in China and planted seeds around the world.

Phase two: Begins in April 2003: a two-year Museum Tour of the winning art – at museums in the United States 2003-2005.

It’s goal is to enable U.S. Children, teachers and adults to see how Chinese children experience their environment, and what Chinese children see as the future of their environment.