We’re excited to announce that this year’s featured artists will include poet Natasha Miller, painter Darius Baber, and painter and muralist Ijania Cortez.

The Annual Teen Summit, hosted by the Teen Arts Council, provides a space for teens to learn, share ideas, network, collaborate, and create at the Detroit Institute of Arts. This year’s Summit will focus on the intersection of art and activism. During this conference-style event, teens will attend their choice of three 50-minute sessions, including artmaking workshops, lectures, artist talks, and guided gallery tours. Session options will be emailed to registrants prior to the event date. Breakfast and lunch are provided.

Teen Arts Council events are free with general admission, which is always free for residents of Macomb, Oakland, and Wayne counties.

All Teen Arts Council events are open to teens ages 13–19. Please bring a student ID or other photo ID that shows your age.

The Teen Arts Council is made possible by the Community Foundation for Southeast Michigan.

Join the Teen Arts Council and renowned Detroit artist Tiff Massey for an evening of jewelry making where creativity takes center stage! Teens ages 13–19 will explore Tiff Massey: 7 Mile + Livernois, take part in a wire-wrapping activity, and engage in conversation with the artist herself. All supplies and dinner are provided.

This event is free with general admission, but registration is required. Space is limited.

Tiff Massey is a celebrated contemporary artist whose work focuses on community and adornment. As the first Black woman to earn an MFA in metalsmithing from Cranbrook Academy of Art, Massey draws from her own experiences and those of African American communities—particularly in her hometown of Detroit. Her work has been shown internationally, and she is a recipient of the 2015 Kresge Artist Fellowship, among other honors.

Community Foundation For Southeast Michigan

The DIA Teen Arts Council invites teens ages 13-19 to join us for a night of embroidery lessons and creation, mingling, and fun! Teens will have the opportunity to tour the exhibition Painted with Silk: The Art of Early American Embroidery, learn beginner embroidery skills, and embroider a small piece of fabric to take home. Dinner and all materials are provided.

Free with general admission but registration is required as capacity is limited.

Event Agenda

• 4:30 p.m. – Check in Begins
• 5 p.m. – Welcome and Introduction
• 5:30 p.m. – Tour the Exhibition
• 6:15 p.m. – Dinner
• 7 p.m. – Embroidery basics lesson and Artmaking
• 8 p.m. – Event ends

Note: This event is for teens, ages 13-19. Please bring a Student ID or other type of photo ID that shows your age.

Iran (Shiraz). A Banquet Scene with Hormuz, from a Manuscript of the Shahnama of Firdawsi (detail), ca. 1485–95. Ink, opaque watercolor, and gold on paper. Los Angeles County Museum of Art, The Nasli M. Heeramaneck Collection, Gift of Joan Palevsky, M.73.5.413. © Museum Associates / LACMA

Join the Teen Arts Council for an evening of food tasting that highlights flavors from across the Islamic world. Afterwards, tour the special exhibition, The Art of Dining: Food Culture in the Islamic World, and create your own mini cookbook to take home. Materials are provided.

Free with general admission, but registration is required as capacity is limited.

Note: This event is for teens, ages 13-19. Please bring a Student ID or other type of photo ID that shows your age.

This event is sponsored by the Community Foundation for Southeast Michigan.

The exhibition The Art of Dining: Food Culture in the Islamic World, is on view through January 5, 2025 and features works of art from a broad geographical expanse, including Arab, Turkish, Persian, and South Asian regions—and beyond. In this VCESDA-sponsored lecture, Dr. Katherine Kasdorf, DIA associate curator of Arts of Asia and the Islamic World, will highlight the exhibition’s European objects, exploring their connections to artistic and culinary traditions from the Middle East.

This lecture is free with registration. 

Image: Islamic, Spanish, Pharmacy Jar, 1440-1480, tin-glazed earthenware with cobalt and luster. Detroit Institute of Arts, Gift of K. T. Keller, 63.358.

Artist photographer Cara Romero will share a body of work and offer her perspective on conceptualization, process and experiences making photographs for the last 25 years. Looking at the spirit of capturing light and time, Romero brings together intricately woven stories of both individual and collective heritage, intertribal identity and human experience. Pressing for intercultural understanding of contemporary lived experience, Romero’s photographs often check preconceived notions of what Native art is and counters stories of monolith culture and stereotypes perpetuated by mainstream society. Sometimes serious and sometimes whimsical, her work involves magical realism, untold American history, and contemporary visual dialogues of Native peoples and ideas.

Join us for an opportunity to understand how Romero’s art serves as a powerful medium for preserving and evolving indigenous narratives in the contemporary world.

Event is free with registration, and open to the public.

• Lecture (Marvin & Betty Danto Lecture Hall): 6:00 p.m. - 7:00 p.m.
• Reception (FJC Dining Rooms): 7:00 p.m. - 8:00 p.m. 

The Teen Arts Council invites teens ages 13-19 to an afternoon of artmaking, mingling, and fun! Join us for a live model drawing session in the Great Hall, complete with an anatomy lesson. All supplies will be provided, and a free lunch is included with registration. Space is limited, so please register for only one of the following sessions:

• Saturday, October 5, 2024 | 12-3pm
• Saturday, October 12, 2024 | 12-3pm

This event is for teens, ages 13-19. Please bring a Student ID or other type of photo ID that shows your age.

Join Iraqi multimedia artist Sadik Kwaish Alfraji and Diana Abouali, Director of the Arab American National Museum, in a conversation about food, memory, and the meaning of home, in conjunction with the exhibition The Art of Dining: Food Culture in the Islamic World, opening at the DIA on September 22, 2024.

Born in Baghdad, Iraq, in 1960, Alfraji has been based in the Netherlands since the 1990s. The Art of Dining features Alfraji’s A Thread of Light Between My Mother’s Fingers and Heaven, a new commission created for this exhibition. Consisting of a large-scale animation, drawings, and photographs, the work explores the artist’s memories of his mother, her homemade bread, and family meals in Baghdad.

Abouali joined the Arab American National Museum in Dearborn, Michigan, in 2019. As director, she has spearheaded projects to update exhibitions, grow the museum’s artist-in-residence program, and strengthen ties to the community, among other initiatives. Born in Toronto, Canada, to Palestinian parents, she has a PhD in Middle Eastern Studies from Harvard University and has worked in the museum and cultural heritage sectors in Palestine, Jordan, and the U.S.

This program is co-sponsored by the DIA Friends of Asian Arts and Cultures and Friends of Modern and Contemporary Art.

The Detroit Institute of Arts Teen Council formally invites teens ages 13–19 to our 2024 Annual Teen Summit! Join us for an evening filled with mingling, live music, refreshments, and art-making.

Plus, hear from professionals in multiple artistic fields and engage with numerous teen-focused organizations. Capacity is limited.

The theme of the event is Art Deco. Cocktail Attire requested!

Please note: A form of ID will be requested at check-in. A student ID, state ID, or other ID showing your age will all be accepted.

Join us for the Detroit City Chess Club simul match with Jessica Hyatt. Hyatt, 18, is the highest-rated African American female chess player in history! With a peak United States Chess Federation (USCF) rating of 2168, and a FIDE rating of 1948, she is on her way to clinching the master title!

In 2019, Hyatt won the New York State Scholastic Championships, and has since been invited by the USCF to represent the US internationally as a part of their youth team (2019–present). In 2022, Hyatt received a special honoree at the Liberty Science Center’s Genius Gala.

In 2023, she became the Pan-American Youth Female Under-18 Blitz Champion, the KCF All-Girls Nationals Champion, and represented the US for the World Youth Chess Championships. Along with chess, Hyatt plays ranked junior tennis and golf, and is a jazz pianist.