Returning to Balance

Returning to Balance: Youth-Led, Strengths-Based Indigenous Arts Pathways to Health and Intergenerational Healing is an immersive public convening hosted by the Johns Hopkins Center for Indigenous Health at the Hopkins Bloomberg Center in Washington, D.C. on November 12, 2026 during Native American Heritage Month. Rather than a conventional panel format, the event centers Indigenous adolescent artists as leaders in public health, featuring four curated performances: Diné alternative Hip Hop artist, destroykasmin, Diné composer and Peabody scholar Michael Begay, the Ikidowin youth theater ensemble mentored by Ojibwe elder Sharon Day, and seven-year-old Ho-Chunk dancer Baby Wambli. The program moves through an intentional arc from truth-telling and grief to resilience and hope, followed by moderated reflection with the artists and audience dialogue connecting creative expression to public health practice and policy.