Last year’s Write-A-Thon was the first time since middle school I attempted any kind of crowdfunding. Growing up in Detroit’s suburbs, my familial attitude was that it was not nice to bother people with yet another invitation to buy Girl Scout cookies, wrapping paper, or…
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Daniella Toosie-Watson Writer-in-Residence InsideOut’s Writer-in-Residence Program gives students a space to be reminded of their power. Daniella is a Writer-in-Residence who brings her background as a poet, visual artist and educator to her work with elementary school students through InsideOut. Beginning as a University of…
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Mahogany Jones Writer-in-Residence Even before COVID-19, the spaces that InsideOut and Citywide Poets carves out of time are magical. With our experiences and creativity we get to shape alternate worlds where we are beautiful and powerful and unashamed and far from average. Recording and performance…
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Catharine Batsios Writer-in-Residence I want every one of my students to have the weekly reminder that their thoughts are rich, robust, & their brains are unique, & always good enough. Catharine, a poet originally from Flint, Michigan, is a Writer-in-Residence and Citywide Poets Site Leader…
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There are a lot of reasons for students to tune out or seem uninspired. The real key is for me, the teaching artist, to be a lighthouse, steady in shining the light for them to come to shore if they can. Rey is a writer…
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From Zoom classes to Facebook live streams and InsideOut At Home lessons, InsideOut’s programs have looked a little different this year for both students and teaching artists. But despite all of the new challenges of virtual teaching, our Writers-in-Residence have made the most of this…
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InsideOut Alum Hajjar Baban wins $90,000 Soros Fellowship for New Americans to continue pursuing her art. We couldn’t be more proud. Check out Hajjar’s InsideOut journey in our Student Stories.
This year marks the first step of InsideOut’s next 25-year journey. We’ve celebrated this occasion by lifting up five stories from five different eras of our history, from our inaugural class in the mid-90s to our most recent graduates. The stories (which you can explore…
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2015-2020: Aja “Citywide Poets brought me to the realization that everybody is individual and important.” Before I started Citywide Poets, I wasn’t doing poetry in secret, but I did feel like an underground artist. It started off as a class assignment back in sixth grade and…
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