AMPLIFY Youth Art Exhibition
Transforming Health Care Through Art
As part of the Annual Conference on Adolescent Health, AHI is fostering youth artists and raising their voices to transform health care.
What Is Amplify?
Too often, youth are missing from conversations around their physical, mental, and social well-being, and how these aspects of their health are shaped by their environment. Yet who better understands what is happening in their world than the youth themselves? Through art, youth can share stories that are frequently hidden — revealing their realities of well-being and the world around them.
Recognizing this opportunity, the Adolescent Health Initiative (AHI) at the University of Michigan invited Michigan artists ages 12-24 to create visual art for the AMPLIFY Youth Art Exhibition at the 2026 Conference on Adolescent Health: Caring for Youth in Times of Change on November 6-7, 2026, at Huntington Place in Detroit, Michigan. Youth artists are provided a stipend and guidance from a youth art consultant to help transform their ideas into finished works of art.
Our Call for Artists is now closed. Thanks to all who applied!
Are you or your organization interested in supporting youth artists? Find out how you can get involved in our Sponsorship & Exhibiting Prospectus.
AMPLIFY Artwork Prompt
Twelve youth artists will be selected to create a piece of artwork based on the following prompt:
Our health is shaped by more than doctors and hospitals. It’s influenced by the world around us: the air we breathe, the places we gather, the schools we attend, and the neighborhoods we call home. Think about your surroundings, relationships, and experiences—big or small—and their effect on your health and well-being. Through your creative and personal expression, share one or more of the following:
At the Conference’s Awards & Reception, AMPLIFY will create a space for dialogue – connecting health care professionals nationwide with the youth they serve, and opening new pathways for understanding, collaboration, and change. The adolescents’ voices, expressed in color, texture, and form, will reveal the ties between environment, health, and equity, inspired by their lived experiences.
Through the artwork, curation notes, and prompts, participants are encouraged to “walk in their shoes,” sparking meaningful conversations between artists and health professionals, and inspiring health care professionals to re-envision the health sphere through the youth lens.
AMPLIFY will have impacts beyond the Conference, too. Through community partnerships, the exhibit will be displayed in multiple venues at the University of Michigan and the surrounding communities. The exhibit will encourage further engagement by capturing viewers’ reactions in the moment through a live word cloud, allowing them to reflect on health, the environment, and identity through youth perspectives.
This project was made possible by a grant from the Arts Initiative at the University of Michigan.
Artist Spotlight
We received many incredible submissions, and we are in the process of reviewing them. Artists will be notified of their acceptance in mid-May 2026.
Thank you for applying
The deadline to submit to AMPLIFY is now past. Thank you so much for your interest!
