NEAT in the NEWS

There have been some major successes in the North End over the last week. Check out these links to articles about NEAT's efforts over the last few weeks:

Middletown Press Article about Wednesday night's Blight Meeting

Middletown Press Article about Monday's North End Homeownership Groundbreaking Ceremony

Hartford Courant's Article about Monday's North End Homeownership Groundbreaking Ceremony

Middletown Eye Article about Monday's North End Homeownership Groundbreaking Ceremony

NEAT's Director, Izzi Greenberg on WESU Radio: Listen online to the archive of "Eye on the Air". The topic was Middletown School Districts policies and how they affect the North End.

BASKETBALL BLOCK PARTY AT DONOVAN PARK

(click here to see pictures of May tournament)

Friday, June 26th at 6:oo pm This Friday, June 26th, we will be hosting a very fun, very informal basketball tournament at the park. This isn't about impressing people with your skill, it's about having fun with your neighbors.

So, bring a friend, a kid, a spouse. This time, we'll have a DJ, as well. Walk on down to the park. Play some b-ball. Eat a hot dog, we'll be cooking out. Bring a blanket and just lie out in the grass. This is a time for fun. At last month's event, there were roughly 200 people!

Over the last few years, NEAT has become involved in issues around Donovan Park (click here for directions.). Something that has come up over and over again is that people just need to USE the park more. So here's your chance.

No need to sign up in advance, just show up with one or two friends or come alone and we'll put you on a team. C'mon North Enders (and everyone else!), we need to start enjoying this amazing space in the middle of our neighborhood! call 346-4845 or email neat@neatmiddletown.org for more information.

NORTH END HOMEOWNERSHIP GROUNDBREAKING

NORTH END HOMEOWNERSHIP GROUNDBREAKING

MIDDLETOWN, CT— North End Homeownership, a partnership between Nehemiah Housing Corporation and the Broad Park Development Corporation will break ground on fifteen units of affordable homes this Monday, June 22^nd, at 11:00 am.

In the fall of 2006, Nehemiah Housing Corp and Broad-Park Development Corporation of Hartford agreed to implement the home-ownership component of the North End Redevelopment plan. The development will provide 17 scattered-site units for home owners. All the properties will target households whose income is below 80% Area Median Income (AMI), or approximately $60,000 for a family of four. Nehemiah has secured funding for 15 of the 17 units. The remaining two units will be developed by Middlesex Habitat for Humanity to serve households below 50% area median income.

This project is a critical piece of the North End’s continued revitalization. It is the culmination of many years of work for residents, non-profits and community stakeholder groups to improve the living conditions, safety and long-term success of Middletown’s North End. Homeownership is a critical component to stabilizing the neighborhood and has been the focus of neighborhood advocates for many years. This project is long in the making and promises to be an exciting next step.

The groundbreaking event will include:

• Department of Economic and Community Development’s Commissioner: Joan McDonald
• Middletown Mayor: Sebastian Giuliano
• Middlesex Chamber of Commerce: Larry McHugh, President
• Liberty Bank: Chandler Howard, President & CEO
• Connecticut Housing Finance Authority: Diane L. Smith
• Local Initiatives Support Corporation: Lesley Higgins-Biddle
• Department of Housing and Urban Development: Julie Fagan
• State Senator: Paul Doyle
• State Representative Joseph Serra
• Nehemiah Housing Corporation: Michael Taylor
• Broad-Park Development Corporation: Raquel Rivera
• North End Action Team: Izzi Greenberg
  

The event will take place on Monday, June 22^nd at 11:00 am in the parking lot of 47 Rapallo Ave, Middletown with a rain location of the Green Street Arts Center, 51 Green Street, Middletown.

Register now for the Children's Circus of Middletown

The Children's Circus of Middletown presented by Oddfellows Playhouse as part of the City of Middletown's kids Arts program, is back for its 21st season. This 5-week, half day program for 200 youngsters ages 8-14, provides training in such skills as stilting, juggling, clowning, acrobatics, unicycling, dance and visual arts, all leading up to a gigantic outdoor performance with a live circus band. A full day Advanced Circus Programs offers experienced performers, ages 12-15, the oppertunity to take their skills to a higher level. The Circus is open to all Middltown residents and non- Middletown residents on a space-available basis. The Circus is sponsered by the Middletown commision on the Arts and the Middlesex United Way.

The circus camp runs from June 29th to July 30th. The Circus show is July 31st at 5 p.m. There are limited spots available for the a.m. session (9:00 a.m. to 11:30 p.m.) and the p.m. session (12:30 to 3:00 p.m.) the cost for the entire 5 week program is $125 for the first child, $75 for the second child, and $50 for each additional child. GENEROUS SLIDING SCALE & FINANCIAL AID IS AVAILABLE TO FAMILIES THATQUALIFY.

There are bus stops at Macdonough School (Pease Avenue), The corner of Green Street & Dekoven Drive & Rose Circle.

To register for the summer circus please call the Arts office - 860-343-6620 ext. 201

5th Annual Green Street Arts Festival

Join the students, friends and teaching artists of Wesleyan University’s Green Street Art Center for a day of indoor and outdoor creative fun in celebration of the Center and Middletown’s North End. Green Street teaching artist Jocelyn Pleasant and her jazz band C. Dzen’s Reign kick off this year’s Arts Festival, which also includes performances by afterschool students and teachers in breakdancing, hip hop, salsa, movement, tap, “Shared Ability” dance and African drumming. Exhibitions by Green Street’s Flash Forward Photography Meet-Up, children’s art classes and others will be on display. Green Street’s Peer Education Performance Project will perform The Struggle, a theater piece which they wrote and directed themselves. Special guest performers include Pretty Boiiz, a rap duo whose members both graduated from Middletown High as well as Green Street alumna the ThoroEnergy dance group.

The Arts Fest will also be the official unveiling of the Green Street Community Mural Project, a large mural created by afterschool Students, community members and mural artist Marela Zacarias on the corner of Main and Green Streets.

Other festival activities include: Video screenings of Green Street’s Intergenerational Oral History Project, Digital Animation and Photojournalism classes, and face-painting by Samantha Lee. The festival takes place on Saturday, June 13 from 1–4pm at 51 Green Street in Middletown. Admission is free. Please call 860-685-7871 or visit www.greenstreetartscenter.org for more information.

Visit http://www.prettyboiiz.com/ for more information on the Pretty Boiiz including video and audio.

GREEN STREET’S EVENING OF SCREENPLAY READINGS

DIRECTED BY AWARD-WINNING, CONNECTICUT FILMMAKER JUSTIN LIBERMAN AND FEATURING WORKS BY LOCAL ASPIRING SCREENWRITERS
Middletown, Conn, June 4, 2009—Join Green Street teaching artist and award-winning Connecticut Filmmaker Justin Liberman as he directs an evening of screenplay readings celebrating the work of local aspiring screenwriters, who were students in his class at Green Street this past year. Two of the writers, Michael Ennis and Sara Hallisey have been accepted into the 2009 Connecticut Film Festival Screenwriter’s Immersion Program.

The program includes excerpts from: Bobby and Dawn by Michael Ennis; Copperhead by Sara Hallisey; An Interrupted Life by Kristen Kuczenski; Date in a Box by Guy Russo and Med School by Mark Sabo. Actors include: Joseph LeMieux, Fallon Saldo, Enza Giannone and Janis Astor del Valle.

The event takes place on Thursday, June 11, from 7-9pm at the Green Street Arts Center, located at 51 Green Street in Middletown. Suggested donation is $5.A reception immediately follows the readings at MAC 650: an art space located at 650 Main Street, Middletown. For more information, call 860-685-7871

Justin Liberman graduated from Sacred Heart University in 2002 and lived in Los Angeles for five years where he directed three award-winning films and several commercials. At the outset of his career, Liberman worked with acclaimed film directors Michael Mann on Collateral and Miami Vice and David Mamet on his upcoming film Red Belt. Liberman is currently in pre-production on the feature film Three Can Keep A Secret If Two Are Dead. A former resident of Middletown’s North End, Justin is relocating to New York City this fall to attend Columbia University’s graduate program in Film.

Wesleyan University’s Green Street Arts Center, which opened in January 2005, is a vibrant center for arts education, serving residents of the neighborhood and the region. It is a project of Wesleyan University in collaboration with the City of Middletown and the North End Action Team (NEAT). Programming in the former schoolhouse at 51 Green Street includes an after school arts education 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.