International Conference on Early Childhood & Education
2023 Bright Start International Conference
Voices of Children International Project: Making Children’s Voices Heard
”’When there was a war, you would see some bad soldiers, they were just so angry and mad, they looked very big, they liked to shoot with their guns, because they didn’t want people to stay……On the other side of this paper, the sky was blue, there were butterflies, there was a flower with a green tree, I called it a good world, a good world is like Australia…” Octavia, Age 5, KU Bradfield Park, Australia
Little People…Big Voices
Building on an international project established by the University of Wollongong in Australia (Brown et al., 2010), the Voices of Children project invited for the first time children aged 3-6 from across the world to submit and exhibit their art in both a virtual gallery exhibition, and a gallery exhibition at the Foundation of the Hellenic World in Athens, Greece, to coincide with the 2022 Bright Start International conference. The online gallery features 300 artworks and 294 children’s messages.
Voices of Children Mission Statement
Children can and should influence the world around them. Through art children are empowered to share what is special about their lives, producing and creating individual and unique responses to share with other children across the world.
Making Children’s Voices Heard
The Voices of Children project aims to enable young children from across the world to capture moments in time, highlight their creativity, share their art and tell the world what is special to them. Specifically, the project aims to honour children’s voices by:
- collaborating with early childhood teachers & parents to promote awareness of the arts and children’s voices
- highlighting the importance and benefits of early arts and creative learning experiences for children and families
- provide platforms to value and share the voices and ideas of children
- support young children to become globally aware
- help children to share visual expressions about their own contexts, cultures and response to the world around them.
The 2022 Voices project involved over 1500 children in 12 countries. Thanks to all of the children, families, teachers and educators involved throughout the 2022 Voices of Children Project
” Our children were over the moon to see their artwork in the gallery, and they were excited to share the exhibition to their friends and families ”, educator from Australia
“This was my Covid experience. It’s the virus remade so that people know how it can look like. I want people to know so they can be aware of it… Frederick (6), The Gap Club, United Kingdom
“This machine cleans the air. The wire is the electricity, and it reaches far up into the sky and brings the air down into the machine….” Andrew (Age 4), Bizzy B’s Preschool, Ireland
2023-2024 THEME: DIVERSITY – EQUITY – INCLUSION – BELONGING
The most important goal of the project is to create a platform where children’s ideas and thinking would be made visible and where 3–6-year-old children around the world would be listened to and valued as world citizens.
To view the 2022 Voices of Children Galleries follow the links below:
