Saniya Pearson, a poetry student at Washington DC's Words Beats & Life Art Academy, reads her poem "Can You See Me?" from the multimedia project "Cotton: A Retrospective.

Eight students from our poetry classes worked together to produce the multimedia project "Cotton: A Retrospective." The Washington Performing Arts Society, the National Endowment for the Arts, and Words Beats & Life present this original poetry collection, which draws inspiration from John Dowell's powerful photography series "Cotton." 

Learn more about our youth poet laureate program or sign up below for our free arts education classes for youth (13-18) and young adults (18-22).