Check out some of our recent InsideOut Events!

  • Opportunity for Teen Poets

    Martin Luther King Jr./Arc of Justice Workshops

    For the past three years, InsideOut poets have created group pieces for the Wayne State University annual Martin Luther King, Jr. Tribute Luncheon at Orchestra Hall, opening for such greats as Dr. Benjamin Carson and Kareem Abdul Jabaar. This year, our MLK Workshops are open to all interested youth. The program is offered in conjunction with the Charles Wright Museum of African American History and the Michigan Humanities Council’s Great Michigan Read program: (http://michiganhumanities.org/programs/tgmr/)..

    Students are invited to a series of weekly workshops to create poems around the legacy of Martin Luther King, Jr., the Civil Rights Movement, and contemporary issues of social justice. This year’s Great Michigan Read book is Arc of Justice: A Saga of Race, Civil Rights, and Murder in the Jazz Age, which tells the story of Ossian Sweet and the struggle for civil rights in Detroit. We will be using this book as the core of our curriculum for the MLK Workshops, and participating in the Charles Wright Museum’s public celebration of this book in January. This is one of many performance opportunities that will be open to students who participate in the MLK workshop series. Interested students can learn about how to become involved at informational session Monday, November 7th, 4:30-6:30pm at the InsideOut office. (State Hall, Room #225. 5143 Cass Ave) Call 313-577-4601 for further info.

  • Praising Principals

    InsideOut Board Member and former DPS principal Linda Spight speaks at InsideOut's DPS Principals Luncheon. (Photo Credit - Nichole Christian)

    A sincere thank you to the 40 enthusiastic Detroit Public School principals and teachers who graciously volunteered a beautiful summer afternoon for lunch and a firsthand look at InsideOut’s multi-layered impact on schools and students.  Current and interested principals enjoyed a screening of IO’s “A Poet in Every Classroom,” video.

    The event, at the University of Michigan’s Detroit Center in Midtown, also included networking with IO board members, writers, staff and of course fine poetry readings from our students.  A few lucky attendees also received free bundles of books for their classroom.

    For more info on InsideOut’s Writer-In-Residence Programs please contact Associate Director, Alise Alousi: alise[at] insideoutdetroit.org.

  • Saluting Our Slam Team Supporters

    Andrew Barnhill, Devin Magee, Justin Rogers, Joseph Verge, Ariana Washington, Breeana Blackmon at Detroit Youth Slam Team Welcome Home Reception at the Carr Center.

    To our donors: the 2011 Detroit Youth Slam Team along with their coaches Aricka Foreman and Isaac Miller want to thank you for your support. We couldn’t have funded our recent Brave New Voices opportunity without your contributions.

    The experience in San Francisco was incredibly worthwhile.  We all shared and learned so much from one another, as well as the hundreds of youth and leaders from across the nation.  It’s made us want to take poetry and youth leadership to the next level, creating bigger and better opportunities for the upcoming 2011-2012 season!
    Thanks so much for your help and for your hard work in making us the one of the top four youth poetry teams in the world. Special shout out to Plymouth United Church, Thistle Coffee House, the Virgil H. Carr Center and major Kickstarter supporters Son Tran, Rebecca Vlasic and Larry Thomas for your generous donations.

  • Get Versed! InsideOut Literary Arts Project Showcase

    The White House, the National Endowment for the Arts, the Erb Family Foundation and Time Magazine all agree that the InsideOut Literary Arts Project is nurturing top-notch talent in a town where young voices are often silenced by sadness.

    Now it’s your turn to see, for free, why poems from the pens of Detroit students are winding their way into the hearts of supporters nationwide. InsideOut is proud to present a showcase of students from Detroit schools, who will present their original poetry, art, dance, music, film and theatrical pieces. The students will share the stage with special guests, poet Myriha Burton and singer-songwriter/spoken word artist BLAIR. Several of the 10 InsideOut young writers selected to attend “An Evening of Poetry” at the White House will also be on hand to perform

    You may register now here.

    Please call the InsideOut office for additional information: P: (313) 577-4601

    Thursday, May 26 from 6pm-7:30pm with a preview beginning at 5:45pm

    Detroit Film Theatre (located in the Detroit Institute of Arts)
    5200 Woodward Ave, Detroit

  • National Poetry Powerhouse Makes A First Visit to Detroit

    Jimmy Santiago Baca leads a class in Detroit

    As an award-winning poet, Jimmy Santiago Baca is riveting, and he’s raw. On a recent trip to Detroit, Baca didn’t disappoint as he read and lead workshops with some of our brightest student literary stars-in-training.  Students witnessed how poetry transformed a man, once sentenced to a maximum security prison stint, into a metaphor for the power of language and self-expression.

    “I don’t know if I would have lived had I not found poetry.” Santiago Baca says.

    Baca read  at the Detroit Artists Market at 7 p.m.

    Baca was also be the keynote presenter for 200 high school student participants at its first “Who Understands Me But Me?” Youth Writers Conference, May 4-5, 2011 in Detroit. Take a listen to Baca in action.

    InsideOut Founder Terry Blackhawk says she tapped Baca to share his voice with Detroit youth because of the reach of his stories on and off of the page. “Baca’s poetry and prose communicate to young readers with urgency and immediacy,” says  Blackhawk. “His teaching methods build community and respect and instill in young writers the courage to give e voice to their lives no matter the worlds they live in.  We are grateful to Chase for making his premier visit to Detroit possible.”

    An InsideOut student writer reads for author Jimmy Santiago Baca

    Orphaned as a child, Baca drifted in and out of gang life and crime as a youth, until he found himself imprisoned in New Mexico on drug charges. In his book, Stories from the Edge, he describes the personal crossroads that he reached while grasping for inner freedom behind bars: “I paced my cell with a book in one hand and a knife under my mattress. I knew I could have a long and happy life with a book in my hand, or I could have a miserable, short life with the shank that was in the mattress.”

  • InsideOut Showcase at the Detroit Film Theatre (5/26/11)

    Join us for an evening of readings by InsideOut students and writers in the schools, a trailer screening of a documentary on InsideOut’s work in the schools, plus performances & an exhibit of visual art by students who have participated in arts-intensive workshops with jessica Care moore, Buddy Budson, Henry Heading, and Jessica Thomas. Award-winning singer/songwriter BLAIR will perform his Dicknson song cycle. This event is free and open to the public. The Detroit Film Theatre is located at the Detroit Institute of Arts at 5200 Woodward Ave, Detroit.

  • Emily Dickinson Read-A-Thon (5/13/11)

    Emily Dickinson Read-a-thon
    Friday, May 13, 6-10pm
    DIA, 5200 Woodward, Detroit
    (free to Detroit residents and museum members)
    Please join InsideOut Literary Arts Project for the concluding event in Detroit’s 2010-2011 Big Read. During the evening, members of the community will give voice to the poems of Emily Dickinson. Readers of all ages are encouraged to drop in and share a poem. For more information, or to register your group to read, please contact Kristine at (313) 577-4664. Event will take place at the Detroit Institute of Arts as part of their Friday Night Live! series.

  • Scratch the Page – TBA (4/16/11)

    Scratch the Page is a student workshop and reading held at Virgil H. Carr Center, 311 E. Grand River, Detroit. The readings (Saturdays at 5 p.m.) are free and open to the public. Donations can be made to InsideOut. For more info, contact CWP Coordinator Matthew Olzmann (matthewolzmann@gmail.com)

  • “Wider than the Sky” Keynote Lecture (3/23/11)

    Jane Eberwein, Distinguished Professor of English, emerita, Oakland University, and noted Emily Dickinson scholar, will give a keynote speech on Dickinson. Dr. Eberwein is a founder of the Emily Dickinson International Society, author of Dickinson: Strategies of Limitation and co-editor of the essay collection Reading Emily Dickinson’s Letters. Her talk will focus on sources of Dickinson’s extraordinary ability to hearten and amaze readers through the power of her poetic language.

  • Scratch the Page – Aricka Foreman (3/19/11)

    Scratch the Page is a student workshop and reading held at Virgil H. Carr Center, 311 E. Grand River, Detroit. The readings (Saturdays at 5 p.m.) are free and open to the public. Donations can be made to InsideOut. For more info, contact CWP Coordinator Matthew Olzmann (matthewolzmann@gmail.com)

  • Camp Dickinson (2/21-2/25/11)

    InsideOut Literary Arts Project and the Arts League of Michigan are looking for talented musicians, dancers and visual artists to participate in a week-long intensive workshop. Each day, students will read and discuss the work of Emily Dickinson as a jumping off point for the creation of new work in their discipline. Participants will work in groups of 6-10 with talented mentors and visiting writers to create a collaborative performance piece that will be featured at InsideOut’s Showcase on May 26th. Application deadline is February 14, 2011. Camp Dickinson is free to accepted participants. Any Detroit Public High School student may apply in music, dance or visual art, providing they have some experience and skill in the field. Workshop will take place at the Virgil Carr Center, 311 E. Grand River, Detroit. Questions? Call Kristine at 313.577.4664

  • Scratch the Page – Jamaal May (2/19/11)

    Scratch the Page is a student workshop and reading held at Virgil H. Carr Center, 311 E. Grand River, Detroit. The readings (Saturdays at 5 p.m.) are free and open to the public. Donations can be made to InsideOut. For more info, contact CWP Coordinator Matthew Olzmann (matthewolzmann@gmail.com)