The Detroit Youth Artist Congress is a soon-to-be-established network bringing together Detroit teens from youth arts programs throughout the city. DYAC will not duplicate the youth advisory councils (YACs) that exist at many cultural and youth organizations. Still, this “Congress” will bring together representatives from YACs and youth arts leadership teams. The goal of DYAC will be to bring together youth leaders in the arts to “set the agenda” for the future of arts education in Detroit. It will also serve to connect youth arts leaders from different organizations to create collective action in support of youth throughout the city.
Dr. Chanel Beebe
Lead Facilitator
Dr. Chanel Beebe is a Detroit native and self-taught abstract painter who has more recently expanded her practice into photography, fabric arts, and other multimedia forms of expression. She holds degrees from the University of Michigan and Purdue University, including a PhD in Engineering Education. She is a Lecturer at the University of Michigan's Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning.
In 2016, she founded Beebe Arts LLC, a Detroit-based design firm working at the intersection of art, education, and social equity, through exhibitions, community curation, and consulting.
Beebe is a youth and young adult educator with ten years of experience as an out-of-school-time educator, leading youth leadership boards, and eleven years of experience as a curator, supporting and mentoring artists across Detroit's gallery and exhibition spaces. She has served as Resident Curator at The Congregation in Detroit since 2020, coordinating installations, receptions, and promotion for the gallery's monthly exhibitions of local artists. Across her educator and curator work alike, the thread is the same: expanding opportunity, for young people to lead and for artists to be seen.
Angelica Williams
Supporting Facilitator
Angelica Williams is a born and raised Detroiter dedicated to accelerating social advancement across the world through values of creativity, kindness, and innovative thought. Currently pursuing undergraduate education in psychology and linguistics at Wayne State University, she advocates for the experiences and value of Gen Z ideas throughout the country and operates primarily as the Data & Program Lead for the City of Detroit’s Office of Youth Affairs.
In her free time she also participates in several programs, with previous commitments including the Detroit Board of Police Commissioners’ Youth Advisory Panel, the Made By Us Youth250 National Advisory Bureau, the 2025 LeadNext Ambassadors for a Global Future, and the IYF’s UP for Change leadership cohort. She enjoys horror movies, mysteries, travel, and the value of progressivism built on a foundation of kind, open-minded, and empathetic communication.
