Just off of Main Street stands a tall brick building, piped with bright blue and green railings. Inside, the air is thick with the smell of paint, pencils and after-school snacks as Middletown youth jostle excitedly, waiting for their afternoon of production and creativity to begin.

Lying mere blocks from campus, the Green Street Arts Center (GSAC) is one of the University’s most exciting community endeavors. Under the strain of recent budget and personnel cuts, however, its bright future could be in jeopardy.

According to Alex Hartley ’10, who is one of four student Green Street Fellows, the University cut approximately $150,000 from GSAC’s 2008-2009 budget.

In 2005, the University created Green Street in collaboration with the City of Middletown and the North End Action Team. The Center offers classes—in dance, music, drama and visual art—workshops and programming for adults, teens, children and families. In addition, the Center hosts numerous events, such as Open Mics and visiting speakers.

According to GSAC’s mission statement, “Green Street serves as a vibrant cultural and educational center combining the resources of Wesleyan and Middletown to transform lives through the arts and foster the creativity that exists in all of us.”

When the Green Street program was first proposed, the University planned for 45 of the Center’s students to attend on scholarship, and 45 students to pay full tuition, according to Hartley. This year, however, 67 of the Center’s staggering 70 students in the after-school arts program receive between 50 to 100 percent financial aid.

The recent budget cuts threaten the number of scholarships that the Center will be able to offer to its students. Furthermore, the Center’s initial budget was created with an expiration date.

“Wesleyan promised [Green Street] $250,000 a year for five years, so there is the question: what is going to happen after year five?” Hartley said.

These budget cuts, however, are not exclusive to Green Street.

“During this time of economic challenges, all departments are being strategically asked to review budgets and cut cost when possible,” said Sonia Mañjon, Vice President for Diversity and Strategic Partnerships at the University.

Nevertheless, these budget cuts have left a particular scar in the Center’s incredibly popular after-school program.

“Due to budget cuts in the Wesleyan world, two of our most hard-working and caring staff members have been fired,” wrote Green Street Fellow Emily Troll ’10 in an e-mail to students who volunteer at Green Street.

The University, however, insists that these staffing changes were a positive move for Green Street.

“With the director’s input, we found it necessary to restructure the Green Street staff to acknowledge and benefit from expertise that was not being utilized,” Mañjon said. “This resulted in minimizing overlap and duplication of responsibilities as well as locating Green Street under the umbrella of the Center for Community Partnerships to solidify its relationship to the University.”

Although Green Street Artistic Director Janis Astor del Valle said that there is still a very strong staff in place at the Center, she admitted that the staffing cuts would not go unnoticed.

“Some people have the misconception that we don’t need help here—we do need people,” she said.

Hartley echoed Astor del Valle’s words, commenting that the sheer number of Green Street students often overwhelms the after-school staff.

Hartley also pointed out that Green Street’s staff was not the only area affected by the University’s budget cuts.

“We are an arts center, but sometimes we don’t even have enough money to get all the supplies we need,” she said. “The cuts came only about two or three weeks into the program this year. This is a community center…it makes it very difficult to build a community when our resources are taken away.”

Although Astor del Valle readily admits that Wesleyan student volunteers are the backbone of Green Street’s after school program, she commented that it seems that very few Wesleyan students even know the center exists.

“I can’t understand why more people don’t know about us,” she said. “We would like to create more opportunities for Wesleyan student and staff involvement.”

According to Mañjon, the University sees Green Street as a provider of both curricular and co-curricular programs to Wesleyan students and Middletown youth and residents.

As the Center struggles to maintain ties between the University and the greater Middletown community, students like Hartley have questioned the University’s priorities.

“It seems like Green Street was hit very hard [by the budget cuts],” she said. “It’s a lot of money to pull out of a program Wesleyan really likes to talk about.”

All parties involved at Green Street admit the important role that the University has played in the creation, growth and maintenance of Green Street’s program.

“Our connection to Wesleyan is critical in every stage of our development,” Astor del Valle said. “We are blessed to have the school as our fiduciary agent.”

Unfortunately, much confusion still remains.

“It seems silly to me that Wesleyan spends so much money blowing leaves away and cutting grass every week, when that money can have so much more importance,” Hartley said. “I think it is important for people to come down to Green Street and look at the program before they take more [funding] away.”