Meet Our Grantee-Partner: InsideOut Literary Arts
InsideOut Literary Arts guides young people to express themselves, vocalize their challenges, and imagine new possibilities for the future through creative writing.
InsideOut Literary Arts student preparing for an interview at a mural unveiling. Photo courtesy of InsideOut Literary Arts.
Mission: Through creative writing, InsideOut inspires and equips young people to think critically, create bravely, and share their voices with the world.
Dr. Terry Blackhawk, a Detroit Public Schools teacher, observed the profound impact poetry had on the social-emotional and academic growth of her students, especially when they could learn from and work with a writer in the classroom. In 1995, Blackhawk secured seed funding from Bob Shaye and the Four Friends Foundation to establish InsideOut Literary Arts (InsideOut). The organization’s name was inspired by a 10th-grade student who exclaimed, “Writing brings what is inside of us out into the world.”
More than three decades later, InsideOut remains the largest literary arts organization in Metro Detroit. Each year, InsideOut partners with 30 schools and 40 community-based organizations in Detroit to offer public events and foster creative and social-emotional growth through comprehensive creative writing programs that pair professional writers with audiences of all ages. The city experiences greater economic, health, educational, and racial disparities than similarly sized metro areas, and InsideOut prioritizes working in communities that lack access to arts programming.
Programming is guided by the belief that the written and spoken word arts, and specifically poetry, are the most accessible and relevant tools for young people to express themselves, vocalize their challenges, and imagine new possibilities for the future. Poetry has guided the mission, growth, and development of three core programs since InsideOut launched.
InsideOut’s Writer-in-Residence program places professional poets in elementary, middle, and high school classrooms. Teaching artists lead intensive weekly workshops in which students explore writing techniques, expand vocabulary, gain critical thinking skills, and foster self-expression and awareness. The residency culminates in the annual publication of an anthology of student writing for each school.
Citywide Poets is InsideOut’s award-winning, free, weekly after-school creative writing workshop for teens. Students learn to embrace creative expression as a tool for self-development and civic engagement as they participate in poetry slams, open mic readings, public performances, and masterclasses with nationally renowned artists. Students may compete for a spot on InsideOut’s Performance Troupe, apply for a position on its Youth Advisory Board, and earn a competitive wage for their time and talents. Through the generosity of an anonymous donor, Citywide Poets students may apply for a scholarship of $25,000 a year for up to four years of undergraduate education in any field or school of their choosing.
Beyond the classroom, InsideOut’s community programming brings the literary arts to the greater community through partnerships, events, and art installations. An initiative with the Detroit Riverfront Conservancy and Downtown Detroit Parks provides writing workshops that unite older adults with teens for intergenerational understanding. In honor of its 30th anniversary, InsideOut installed 30 billboards featuring student poetry across Detroit, offering community members a unique opportunity to be curious, uplifted, and inspired by the words of young people. InsideOut also installed a permanent mural on Detroit’s Avenue of Fashion and organized an all-day, family-friendly festival with poetry and wellness at its center.
Faith, an InsideOut Literary Arts student poet, by a billboard featuring her poem. Photo courtesy of InsideOut Literary Arts.
InsideOut believes that investing in the economic development of writers is the best way to reduce opportunity gaps and contribute to Detroit’s long-term cultural vitality. InsideOut’s core administrative and program team includes professional writers, former teaching artists, and program graduates. To increase pay equity in 2025, InsideOut hired three full-time salaried writers and raised the base rate for all teaching artists, with a significant increase to those who have been working for the organization for more than five years.
Funding through the Poetry Foundation’s former grants strategy, Poetry Programs, Partnerships, and Innovation grant, expanded InsideOut’s community presence. It provided the stability to build community partnerships and develop and strengthen public programs. It helped reduce obstacles to participation, like a lack of transportation, and amplified the voices of people who face the greatest barriers to access.
InsideOut is a Poetry Foundation 2025-2028 Sustainable Futures grantee-partner.
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