For nearly two decades, Giving Voice has paired ArtWorks interns with mentors to create posters about issues that matter to them. ArtWorks is Access Gallery’s summer internship for high school students with disabilities as they prepare for what comes next after high school.

The idea for Giving Voice began with two unexpected moments.

The first happened when I needed a map for a gallery exhibition that had come together very quickly. A design studio was located next door, and I offered one of the junior designers a cup of coffee if she would help create a guide we could use. I shared the idea, and within about 20 minutes, she had transformed it into something far more effective than I could have created myself. That experience planted a seed, although I didn't realize it at the time.

Later that summer, I overheard two ArtWorks interns talking about global warming. Listening to their conversation, I realized the problem wasn't whether young people with disabilities had something meaningful to say. It was that too few people were asking them what they thought.

That realization became the foundation for Giving Voice.

The idea was simple: give each intern the experience of being the client. Volunteer graphic designers partnered with them, listening, brainstorming and creating side by side. The intern brought the vision and made the creative decisions. The designer brought expertise in visual communication and helped translate those ideas into a finished poster that reflected the intern’s perspective.

That partnership changed the traditional relationship between the Artworks intern and the designer. The intern wasn't simply contributing to someone else's project. They were making creative decisions, shaping the message and working alongside the designer from beginning to end.

Over the years, Giving Voice has created well over 100 partnerships between ArtWorks interns and graphic designers from the Denver community. Many of those collaborations have developed into lasting friendships, and many designers have returned year after year to mentor another intern.

As the program has grown, so has the mentorship. Today, ArtWorks interns are mentored by graphic designers from the Denver community, Access Gallery artists and Creative Careers interns, Access Gallery's paid internship program for emerging artists building professional experience in the arts. Together they develop ideas, make creative decisions and create posters that reflect each intern's perspective. In many cases, artists who were once mentored through Access Gallery programs are now mentoring the next generation.

In 2025, the Denver Art Museum hosted a 15-year retrospective of Giving Voice. Seeing so many posters together offered a powerful reminder of the ideas, relationships and conversations that have grown from the program.

What began as a simple experiment has become one of Access Gallery's longest-running collaborative programs. The idea remains the same as it was nearly twenty years ago: ask artists what matters to them, listen carefully and create space for those ideas to be shared. When that happens, the result is more than a poster. It is a conversation that invites all of us to learn from one another and see the world through someone else's perspective.