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For Immediate Release
Contact: Lex Leifheit
860-685-2806 or lleifheit@wesleyan.edu

Green Street Announces A ­­­­­­­19% Increase In After School Arts Enrollment
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Registration Extended for 10-Week Adult & Youth Classes

September 18, 2006—The Green Street Arts Center, now in its second full season of operation, announced this weekend a 19% increase in enrollment of students in its After School program. At the end of the 2005-06 school year, 23 students were enrolled five days a week, and nine twelve to eighteen-year olds had been added near the end of the school year. Two weeks in to 2006-07, the center has 28 students enrolled five days a week, and nine twelve to eighteen year olds attending one to four days. Several families are still in the process of enrolling their children.

Green Street director Janis Astor del Valle noted, “We are offering some fantastic new arts programs for adults and children this fall, and it’s so wonderful to see this supported by our after school enrollment.”

Green Street has also extended registration for its 10-week adult and youth classes until the first day of class. Arts classes that begin this week include: West African Drumming, Intro to Sound Design, Music Alive and Sound Habits (early childhood), Ballet, Salsa, Belly Dancing, Music Production and Sound Recording.

Six-week courses for adults and youth begin the week of October 9 and include: African Dance, Video Storytelling, Truth and Improv, Tai Chi and Chi Kung, Acting Out!, Jazz Piano Ensemble, Modern Dance, Intermediate Tap, Photography and more.

Information and course schedules are available by calling 860-685-7871 or going online, http://www.greenstreetartscenter.org.

In addition to its new fall classes, Green Street kicks off a Sunday discussion series this Sunday, September 24 at 2pm, with a discussion and reading/performance by Wesleyan faculty member Kate Rushin. Rushin, a poet and scholar, traces her creative process from childhood prayers to snapshots of her working-class community, to social commentary—drawing on inspiration from the music of Nina Simone and Sly Stone. Suggested donation is $5, light refreshments will be served.

About the Green Street Arts Center
The Green Street Arts Center, which opened in January 2005, is an initiative of Wesleyan University developed in collaboration with the City of Middletown and the North End Action Team to provide an anchor for the revitalization efforts already underway in the North End. Programming in the former schoolhouse at 51 Green Street includes a vibrant after school program and a wide range of affordable classes and workshops for children and adults in music, dance, visual arts, theater, sound recording, media arts and creative writing.

Participation at Green Street is open to everyone; financial assistance is available for the after school program. To receive more information about the Green Street Arts Center, call 860-685-7871 or visit www.greenstreetartscenter.org.

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