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Detroit

Radiant Detroit celebrates youth with arts and culture in the heart of Detroit

The festival featured activity stations and student poetry readings from InsideOut’s creative writing programs

Midbrow Editor
· 2 min read
A hand arranges letters on a tote bag on a blue tarp that reads“Hey Detroit, what if the rest of the country looked like you? I think I would like that.”
InsideOut member Jessica Lee created a custom tote bag with the title of the poem she performed during the event. Photo credit: Akeel Ahmed

Radiant Detroit Festival
Beacon Park
Sept. 13, 2025

By Akeel Ahmed

The Radiant Detroit Festival, hosted by nonprofit InsideOut Literary Arts, celebrated the city’s youth and culture. Held at Beacon Park, the event also commemorated InsideOut’s’ 30th anniversary of fostering youth arts programming.

A woman helps a young child play a brass trombone at an outdoor event, with others nearby.
Erin Faryniarz with Detroit Harmony helps Nasir Dickerson learn how to play the trombone. Photo credit: Akeel Ahmed
A group of people performing a unique exercise where they beat on exercise balls with sticks like a drum as a way to mix music and cardio.
Drumtastic Fitness leads a cardio drumming class with exercise balls to promote exercise for all ages. Photo credit: Akeel Ahmed
A group of people lying on yoga mats participating in a guided session while a woman stands over them with a wooden instrument.
Randiah Camille Green performs a sound bath after leading a gentle yoga session. Photo credit: Akeel Ahmed

InsideOut’s 2024 annual report states they have engaged more than 1,500 youth through their programs. In addition to readings from Citywide Poets, two students, Ali Alamri and Mohammed Jalo, from Salina Elementary were selected to read their pieces at the event.

A child is on stage with two adults behind him as he reads a poem from his notebook into a microphone.
Ali Alamri reads his poem, “A Poet’s Manifesto,” about his imaginary rectangular planet where everyone has elemental powers. Photo credit: Akeel Ahmed
A child is on stage with one adult behind him as he reads a poem from his notebook into a microphone.
Mohammed Jalo was selected to read his poem titled “Sitting in Beauty,” about a robot waiting for him on a cotton candy cloud. Photo credit: Akeel Ahmed

“These students were a part of last year's writers in residence program with Mr. Pete (Peter Markus) and Ms. Wafaa (Wafaa Mustafa),” InsideOut Advanced Youth Programming Tech La Shaun phoenix Moore said. “It is beautiful to be an artist and be able to flip on the light switch of young babies.”

A woman in a red jacket performs on stage with a microphone in one hand and her other hand on her hip as she leans towards the crowd.
Rapper, singer, songwriter, and writer-in-residence with InsideOut, Mahogany Jones performs her song “Floating” at the end of the Radiant Detroit Festival. Photo credit: Akeel Ahmed

International hip-hop artist Mahogany Jones closed the event with an exclusive performance to celebrate InsideOut’s 30-year relationship with the city of Detroit. 

InsideOut will host an official birthday party fundraiser on Saturday, Oct. 25.

This article was published in conjunction with Outlier Media.

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