InsideOut Literary Arts - InsideOut 30th Anniversary Billboards

InsideOut Literary Arts has spent 30 years amplifying the voices of Detroit students through its Writers-in-Residence program, afterschool workshops, and community events. To celebrate this milestone, we brought student poetry out of classrooms and into the city with 30 billboards for 30 years.

Across Detroit, young writers’ words turned commutes into moments of reflection and pride. The campaign gave visibility and respect to their work while reminding the community that the city’s future is being written by its youth.

As InsideOut’s director wrote, these poems offered “truth-telling in a time of turmoil,” expressing hope, struggle, and resilience. By celebrating three decades of youth voice in such a public way, the project redefined both poetry and public space—transforming billboards into beacons of creativity, belonging, and the next 30 years of possibility.