Create. Belong. Grow.
DAVA provides free, high-quality arts programming where young people build creative skills, confidence, and pathways to the future.
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Downtown Aurora Visual Arts (DAVA) engages diverse youth in meaningful, high-quality arts education that sparks creativity, increases opportunity, and strengthens community.For more than three decades, DAVA has been a place where young people access exceptional instruction, professional-grade art supplies, and mentorship from innovative teaching artists who believe deeply in youth potential.Today, DAVA is entering a new era. One rooted in listening, relationship-building, and a renewed commitment to artistic excellence. Guided by a refreshed vision, we are deepening our impact while honoring the legacy that has shaped who we are.
DAVA offers a continuum of arts education programs designed to grow with young people from early childhood through high school.
Art of the Revolution
Art, words, and participatory projects that inspire change.
Throughout 2026, DAVA students ages 3 to 18 explored printmaking and other art forms as tools for speaking out, raising awareness, and taking part in social and environmental activism.
This exhibition brings together prints on ceramics and fabric, paintings, sculpture, wearable art, student videos, activist posters, and interactive projects. From community medals created by DAVA’s youngest artists to relief prints and wearable artwork made by high school students, each piece reflects the issues young people care about most.
Student work addresses topics including war and gun violence, gender equality, reproductive rights, healthcare, inflation, climate change, and environmental justice. Together, these projects celebrate youth voice and invite visitors to consider how creativity can inspire meaningful change.
The exhibition is free and open to the public Monday through Friday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., and by appointment through November 1, 2026.
Congratulations to our DAVA Graduates
Each year, we proudly celebrate DAVA’s graduating students as they begin their journeys beyond high school, carrying with them the memories, lessons, skills, and friendships they developed at DAVA.
This year, we honored 10 graduating students with a pop-up exhibition and family reception in early June. Surrounded by family and friends, students had the opportunity to publicly share their artwork and reflect on their experiences at DAVA.
One graduating student was unable to attend because of a scholarship commitment. Click the video to hear her message in her own words.
