Call for Participation: Artmile International Collaborative Learning 2026
The Artmile Project, launched in 2006, has engaged 68,501 participants from 1,894 schools across 109 countries and regions over the past 20 years.
In 2025, marking the culmination of two decades of activities, we held Artmile Mural Exhibition at Expo 2025 Osaka, Kansai, Japan, where murals representing all 158 participating countries were displayed throughout the six-month event.
For Artmile International Collaborative Learning in 2026 (AICL 2026), we will accept a limited number of highly motivated schools and provide them with intensive support. Through this initiative, we aim to nurture the next generation of young people who take a deep interest in global issues, share the aspiration to make the world a better place through their own actions together with peers around the world, and demonstrate the initiative to create positive change.
Schools wishing to participate in the AICL 2026 are invited to review the following explanation and submit their applications.
<WHAT IS AICL>
AICL is a project-based learning that allows students to interactively and collaboratively learn about the issues facing the world today and think together solutions and their future.
- What is AICL
- Flow of the learning
- Effect of the learning
- Impact of the learning
<THEME OF THE LEARNING>
"What actions we can take together with our peers around the world to Create a Better Future."
Consider what challenges exist in your country or community in order to make the world a better place, and discuss with your partner school which specific topics you would like to focus on together.
For specific topics, you may refer to the SDGs as a guide, or you may choose and develop your own topics independently.
<HOW TO COMMUNICATE>
Students are expected to use Online Forum JAM provides as a communication tool, sharing their research with their partners, discussing how to solve their challenges and thinking together about what they can do for their better future, throughout the project.
<OUTCOMES OF THE LEARNING>
Students co-create a Mural (a big picture of 1.5m by 3.6m) by drawing halves (one by a Japanese school, the other by their partner school abroad) with a message as their learning outcome.
<ATTRIBUTION OF THE MURAL>
The murals will be presented to JAM and JAM will take appropriate custody of them. For the purpose of promoting the AICL project, JAM reserves the copyright to exhibit the murals and to make and distribute the copies.
HOW TO APPLY
[Application deadline] May 1st, 2026
[Implementation period] June 2026 – March 2027
[Target] Students of elementary, secondary and high schools
[Number of acceptance] 20 schools/classes
[Cost] No registration fee yet need actual shipping cost for sending a completed mural back to Japan
[Contact] <jam@artmile.jp>
AICL 2026 Application Form
Please download the above form and send the completed form with a signature of the principal to <jam@artmile.jp> by email. Any file of docx, pdf or jpg is acceptable. And please send the original docx file as well.
JAM will inform the result of your participation by email in May.
Learning Schedule
RESEARCH (June–July)
- Research the partner country and reflect on one’s own country to recognize its strengths and unique qualities.
- Conduct research at each school on the theme agreed upon with the partner school.
SHARE (September)
- Share research findings and connect each other’s issues to broader global perspectives.
UNITE (October)
- Discuss solutions to each other’s challenges while considering the current global situation.
- Create a message together that expresses the future both schools wish to create.
CREATE (November–February)
- Discuss the mural design incorporating the shared message and decide how to divide the production tasks.
- The Japanese school paints half of the mural and sends it to the partner school overseas (December).
- The partner school completes the mural and sends it back to the Japanese school (February).
APPRECUATE (March)
- Reflect on the learning process, conduct self-evaluation, and prepare a final report.
The schedule above shows a standard learning schedule. However, if you do not fit into the schedule below because you have summer holiday in July and August, please contact us <jam@artmile.jp>. We are ready to give you some advice about how to adjust the standard schedule and arrange your own schedule.
To implement this project, about 2 lessons or more per week would be preferable. However, as it depends on the duration of one lesson, please feel free to contact us <jam@artmile.jp> if you have any questions.