Teen Arts Council

The DIA Teen Art Council seeks to create a space within the DIA that gives a voice and a creative outlet to youth.

The DIA Teen Arts Council pose together in the museum

Members of the DIA's Teen Arts Council pose together at an event.

What is the Teen Arts Council?

Teen Arts Council making art in the DIA's Artmaking studio

The Teen Arts Council is a group of 12 high school students who design and implement meaningful, empowering, and entertaining programs for metro Detroit teens. Focused on community building, social justice, and culture, this group of creative and energized teens seeks to create a space within the Detroit Institute of Arts that gives voice and a creative outlet to youth.

As employees of the Detroit Institute of Arts, the council builds relationships with museum staff across departments, as well as museum partners, allowing them to expand their network of artists, local youth leaders, and museum professionals.

Why attend a teen event?

  • Enjoy free food with registration at events designed for teens, by teens (residents of Macomb, Oakland and Wayne counties register for free)
  • Extend your thinking through artmaking
  • Immerse yourself in art from all around the world
  • Socialize with friends or engage with teens from other schools in metro Detroit
  • Enjoy personally meaningful experiences with art, peers, and museum professionals.
Teens eating together in Dining Rooms A&B

The perks of being a Teen Council member

Teen Arts Council
  • Earn $16.50 per hour, roughly 10-20 hours a month.
  • Cultivate leadership skills that will support taking on roles of influence as socially engaged community builders now, and in the future
  • Generate an understanding of what it means to be artistically and culturally engaged citizens.
  • Acquire practical work experience in a world-renowned art museum.
  • Gain access to the DIA network of professionals.
  • Become familiar with career opportunities in the museum field.
  • Broaden a world view grounded in art, different interpretations of art, and the perspectives of diverse peers.
  • Develop an aptitude for community engagement and influence.

Apply to be a Teen Arts Council Member

Job applications open in early May and close in late June each year. Applicants must be 16 years of age by the start of the school year and a resident of Macomb, Oakland, or Wayne counties. Successful candidates will receive a two-year contract that ends when the employee graduates from high school.

Click here to apply

Teen Arts Council posing on stairs in the museum
Art-making in the Studio. From left to right, Javohn, Destini, Breanah, and Jaanaki.

Stay engaged with the Teen Arts Council

Get updates straight to your inbox every time there's a teen event.

 

Questions? Contact Sade Benjamin, Education Program Manager at sbenjamin@dia.org.

The Teen Arts Council is made possible by

Logo for the Community Foundation for Southeast Michigan