NEW GREEN STREET ARTS CENTER OPENS DOOR TO COMMUNITY OPPORTUNITIES IN MIDDLETOWN AND REGION

$1.5 MILLION RENOVATION AND ARTS PROGRAMMING MARK WESLEYAN'S LARGEST-EVER COMMUNITY OUTREACH PROJECT; SENATOR DODD, MAYOR THORNTON TOUR CENTER

For immediate release: Tuesday, November 23, 2004
Contact: Lex Leifheit, CFA Press & Marketing Coordinator
(860) 685-2806; lleifheit@wesleyan.edu

(MIDDLETOWN, CT) — Senator Christopher J. Dodd (D-CT) and Middletown Mayor Domenique S. Thornton, visited Wesleyan University's new Green Street Arts Center today.

When the new Green Street Arts Center (GSAC) opens its doors in Middletown's North End on January 5, 2005, it will be a dream come true for a project more than seven years in the making.

The GSAC is the result of a partnership formed by Wesleyan University, the City of Middletown, the North End Action Team (NEAT) and other groups in the region to create an anchor for the revitalization efforts currently underway in the North End. Programming in the three-story former schoolhouse (located at 51 Green Street) will include an after-school program and a wide variety of affordable classes and workshops for children and adults in music, dance, visual arts, sound recording, theater, videography and creative writing.

Those too curious to wait can get a “sneak peak” when the GSAC holds a day of arts workshops and demonstrations (Saturday, December 4 from noon–5pm) and an Open House (Sunday, December 5 from 4:30–6:30pm) at its new home. Tours highlighting elements of the Center's $1.5 million renovation will be offered both days. Mini-workshops in ballet, salsa and hip hop dance will be offered on Saturday. More than 30 classes will be offered as of January, including Playwriting, Videography, Afro-Caribbean Doll Making and a Grandparents & Grandchildren Multimedia Blitz. Participation at the GSAC is open to everyone in the region; tuition assistance is available. To receive a spring catalogue or more information about the Green Street Arts Center, call 860-685-7871 or visit www.greenstreetartscenter.org.

GSAC Director Ricardo Morris commented, "The Green Street Arts Center is proof that a seed planted by a community can become a garden for everyone to enjoy. Our programming reflects the diversity of the city and has something for everyone-–from preschoolers to oldschoolers. We can’t wait to say 'welcome to our neighborhood'!"

Seeds for the Green Street Arts Center were planted in early 1997, when Middletown's city planning office invited community members to discuss ways to revitalize the town's poorest neighborhood–the North End. Positive outcomes of these meetings included the formation of the North End Action Team (NEAT), a resident-led advocacy group. In addition, a community charrette was conducted by Yale University and resulted in a planning document, The Middletown Report. In January, 2000, a housing redevelopment plan was unveiled at a community forum where the arts surfaced as both a possible vehicle for revitalizing the North End, and as a stabilizing feature of the housing plan. The neighborhood pointed to the number of artistic venues that had already been successful in the North End including The Buttonwood Tree and Oddfellows Playhouse.

Wesleyan's Center for the Arts worked with Wesleyan leadership to vision what it might take for the University to take the lead in the creation of a community arts center. In 2001, Wesleyan conducted a feasibility study to gauge community needs and campus interests. The study concluded that an arts center would promote economic and community development by attracting increased residential and commercial activity in the neighborhood, and identified the former schoolhouse on Green Street as the ideal site.

Working in collaboration with NEAT, Wesleyan developed programming plans for the Center. Partnership with the City of Middletown resulted in an agreement by the city in 2002 to lease the building to Wesleyan for a dollar per year. Wesleyan then initiated a campaign to raise $2.5 million for the Center, $1.5 million for the renovating and equipping of the 12,000 square-foot building, and $1 million to subsidize scholarships and programming.

Funds for the renovation, designed by Centerbrook Architects of Essex, Connecticut, were successfully raised through an extraordinary partnership between Wesleyan alumni, faculty, staff and parents, private foundations & corporations, along with grants from city, state and federal sources. Contributions include a $300,000 Urban Action grant approved by the State of Connecticut Bond Commission; $225,000 in Community Development Block Grant funds from the City of Middletown (which is also leasing the building to Wesleyan for $1 per year); $100,000 from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development through Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro; $100,000 from Wesleyan and an anonymous gift of $500,000 from a Wesleyan alumnus and his wife.

To build visibility and momentum for the GSAC, Wesleyan and its community partners launched a series of pilot classes, workshops, and performances in the fall of 2002. Green Street has also sponsored a youth documentary video project for middle school children and a children’s a capella choir, the NEAT Notes. These pilot programs have reached more than 3,000 participants, many of whom have enjoyed more than one program.

GSAC Phone: (860) 685-7871
E-mail: ncsmith@wesleyan.edu
Address: Green Street Arts Center
51 Green Street, Middletown, CT 06457

SNEAK PEEK WORKSHOP/DEMONSTRATION SCHEDULE
12–12:30pm Jazz Dance; Celtic Music Ensemble & Violin; Spoken Word Poetry and Identity; Painting Relationships; Intro & Advanced Acting and Digital Photography
12:30–1pm “Bomba” Drumming and Printmaking
1–1:30pm Hip Hop Dance; Guitar; Belly Dancing; Painting with Acrylics; Memoir Writing and Videography
1:30–2pm Jazz Jam and Basics of Sculpture
2–2:30 Ballet; Drumming; Piano and Life Drawing & Painting with Oils
2:30–3pm Salsa; Multimedia Blitz and Perceptual Painting
3–3:30pm Expressive Drawing; Block Printing; Foundations of Dance and Modern Dance
3:30–4pm Piano; Saxophone and Afro-Caribbean Doll Making
4:30–5PM Voice
* schedule subject to change, workshops/demonstrations may be added