From 17 to 29 July 2022, a two-week “Design For Public Welfare” Summer Camp kicked off under the support of the Guangdong Lingnan Educational Charity Foundation. The event is co-organized by the Social Services Station of Wenquan Town and Wanqu Open University of Design. The Public Welfare Summer Camp is open to children aged between 6 to 12, it aims to empower the innovation education for children, motivate children to draw and observe daily life from drawing. The teachers took the children to start their art creation journey from drawing Conghua’s seasonal fruits and scenic spots of Wenquan Town, which helped them to develop an in-depth understanding on the unique charm of their hometown. The World Eco-Design Conference (WEDC) empowers the children with innovative design by digital art course.

With the support of the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO), the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology of the People's Republic of China, the People's Government of Guangdong Province, and the China Light Industry Federation, the WEDC is the world ecological design industry development conference which was founded by design organizations, institutions, enterprises, and institutions from more than 30 countries and regions. In December 2021, the WEDC was granted the Special Consultative Status by the United Nations Economic and Social Council (UN ECOSOC). WEDC pays concrete attention to the education development, and aims to make contributions to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the UN’s 2030 Agenda. 

Highlights of the Summer Camp Design

01 Digital Art Course
In the Summer Camp, we have input innovative elements to the digital art course. The students can learn the evolution history of digital design of nowadays, and the application of digital art generation system to create their digital art on class, so that they can get to know and understand better about digital art during their creation process. The set up of digital art course has enabled children to draw and create without the limit of handy tools in a more novel and refreshing approach, and it opens the eyes of children about the form of art, nourishes their imagination and creativity, so that they can create more infectious works at the end. 

02 Digital Art Competition
The outstanding works of the students created during the course will be selected to compete in TheOne.Art. The National Juveniles Digital Art Competition organized by theOne.Art, the China’s first trade platform of digital art collections. The Competition is supervised by the Zhejiang International Art Exchange Association, and the National Eco-Industrial Design Institute.

Innovative Design · Education Empowerment
Since the inception of the Design Summer Camp in 2019, it has gained great supports from the government of Wenquan Town, Social Services Station of Wenquan Town and the Eco-Design Town. For the past 3 years, now the Summer Camp is in its 6th season, and has received over 500 students. Last year, we cooperated with the Guangdong Provincial Innovation Design Research Institute of One Village One Product, and applied 6 imaginative artworks of selected children artists in the package design for moon cake, which has won a vast number of recognition and praise from the society. This year, we will explore more channels to provide platforms for demonstration and opportunities for transformation and application for the outstanding works.

By the Summer Camp, the children education has attracted more attentions from the parents and even the society; Through the design of superior classes of quality education, aesthetic education development of children has been encouraged, also they could experience the charm of design. In the future, the WEDC will continue to pay close attention on the education development. More education related activities will be organized, and the construction of International Design Education Alliance will be accelerated in the follow-up. The WEDC strives to provide more education support, and further make contributions to the SDGs.