community partnerships

Four prototype mosaics sit on display in storefront windows along Main Street’s Downtown Business District this fall. The quartet are a sample of what Adjunct Assistant Professor of Art and Art Studio Technician Kate Ten Eyck will install in the pedestrian tunnel connecting downtown Middletown to the Connecticut River as part of a new public art project. The ongoing multi-year mural installation project, called “Mosaics on Main/TunnelVision," will showcase 200 million years of local history. Ten Eyck’s mosaic depicts the dinosaur Anchisaurus, one of the few fossilized skeletons found in the region, in Manchester and East Windsor. Ten Eyck held…

Assistant Professor of Dance Iddi Saaka is teaching the fundamentals, history, and cultural importance of African drumming and dance to a group of adults over the age of 55 at the New Britain Public Library this fall. His group gathers in the downstairs Stanley Works Community Room for 90-minutes on Thursday afternoons. Over the course of eight weeks, the library class is learning two Ghanaian recreational dances, “Kpatsa” and “Kpanlogo.” Saaka previously taught “Kpatsa” to Wesleyan’s Class of 2027 during their new student orientation “Common Moment” on Andrus Field the day after they arrived on campus at the end of…

By Rose Chen '26 Students and members of the community gathered at Van Vleck Observatory (VVO) on the afternoon of Saturday, Oct. 14 for solar eclipse and astronomy-related fun. Despite the cloudy weather, attendees received eclipse glasses for safe future viewings and a planetarium show, as well as books available to check out from Russell Library and demonstrations in both English and Spanish from graduate students in the astronomy department. “I think, of course, everybody was disappointed that the clouds didn't cooperate today,” Associate Professor of Astronomy and Integrative Sciences Meredith Hughes said. “But it's never cloudy in the planetarium,…

Wesleyan’s Embodying Antiracism Initiative Fellows shared stories about their work this academic year during the program’s Think Tank at their third and final salon this spring, held in the Library’s Smith Reading Room on April 20. Two previous salons–intimate, informal gatherings looking at works-in-progress and building community–were held in February. The initiative’s Summer Leadership Institute, “The Power of We,” takes place on campus from June 5 through June 11. The April salon was facilitated by two Summer Leadership Institute faculty members who have worked with partnering organization Urban Bush Women: choreographer and artist Marjani Forté-Saunders, and movement coach and community practitioner…

Wesleyan’s Jewett Center for Community Partnerships convened a group of scholars, public policy specialists, funders, and activists to explore what community safety is, what it can look like, and the systemic barriers in place preventing an ideal version of that goal. The recent conference, “Re-imagining Community Safety,” showed the challenges in creating a more just world. The daylong conversation took place Thursday, April 13. The Center for Justice Innovation was a co-sponsor of the event. “We have a long and deep tradition of activism and community engagement, so consider yourself at home” said Clifton Watson, director of the Jewett Center.…

Through a series of intimate and informal salons, Wesleyan’s Embodying Antiracism Initiative Fellows shared some of the work they have created this year during the program’s Think Tank. The salons are mini-festivals of arts, ideas, and activation, looking at works-in-progress and building community, said Stephanie McKee-Anderson, Executive Artistic Director of partnering organization Junebug Productions and Special Advisor to Provost Nicole Stanton. A Fellow might have the seed of a creation, so a salon could be a helpful place to dialogue about that idea, while the others might act as thought provocateurs. “What questions make a creator more excited about their…

In recognition of a year since the Russian attack on Ukraine, Wesleyan's Dance Department and WesWell co-hosted Ukrainian dance artist Mariia Bakalo, to teach a Contemporary Dance class and a workshop in Ukrainian Dance: Choreotherapy. The Choreotherapeutic approach focuses on the collective dynamic experience of moving together in rhythm and special configurations with other people. Bakalo taught a Bukhovynian dance from the southwestern region of Ukraine. Participants, including students, staff and faculty, children and Middletown community leaders from Community Health Center of Middletown and the Free Center, learned, laughed and sweat together. “The event was a testament to the resilience…

A new Jewett Center for Community Partnerships project hopes to encourage young people to see themselves as not just bystanders to the historical events shaping our world, but as having an important perspective on it worth preserving. The project, called “We Make History,” collects the personal expressions of Wesleyan students and local young people about the landmark events of the last several years, including the global COVID-19 pandemic and the Black Lives Matter movement. The students’ submissions, which could be pieces of writing, artwork, or video and audio recordings, will be archived at Olin Library and the Middlesex County Historical…

Thirteen student-led groups are the recipients of Jewett Center for Community Partnerships Student Innovation Fund awards. These awards support community engagement projects with grants up to $750 each. “The common theme is that they all want to positively impact the greater Middletown community,” said Rhea Drozdenko, JCCP community participation coordinator. “There is no one right way to do community engagement, and the Innovation Fund supports nontraditional ideas. It's important that our grantees are grounded in the ideas of mutual respect and collective responsibility as they go out into the community." All applicants are required to read the Cardinal Community Commitment —the University's…

This month, the Jewett Center for Community Partnerships announced the grantees of the JCCP Student Innovation Fund. Students from a range of majors and backgrounds—all with shared interests in utilizing resources in innovative ways to positively impact the greater Middletown community—applied to this fund. The Student Innovation Fund provides up to $750 for spring or summer projects that prioritize: Collaboration between student groups, faculty/staff, and/or community partners; Investigation of the impact of our civic engagement efforts; and Sharing of ideas and learnings in civic engagement on campus and beyond. All student efforts are representative of the JCCP’s continued commitment to…

Eleven students from CSPL 239, Startup Incubator: The Art and Science of Launching Your Idea, took turns standing before an audience of their peers and members of Middletown's Chamber of Commerce on the second floor of Main Street Market. Each offered a polished presentation detailing the need for their proposed startup, their mission, target market, and success indicators for the business, nonprofit, or community-based program they imagine. The evening was hosted through Collision-CT and the Middletown Entrepreneurs Workspace Plus (MEWS+). The course was made possible by CTNext and the Newman’s Own Foundation. Taught this year by Visiting Assistant Professor of…

In this Q&A, we speak to Clifton Watson, who joined Wesleyan as director of the Jewett Center for Community Partnerships (JCCP) in February. A New Haven, Conn., native, Watson holds a BA from the University of Connecticut in African American studies, an MA from North Carolina Central in history, and a doctorate from Fordham in history. His dissertation explores the northern migration of African Americans who settled in the Newhallville area of New Haven—which is where he grew up. Q: Please tell us a bit about your background . . . what drew you to Wesleyan? How did you know…

Wesleyan Professor to Create Mosaics on Main

Professor Teaches African Drumming and Dance to Local Community

Community Views the Solar Eclipse

Embodying Antiracism Fellows Share Their Stories During Salon

Jewett Center Hosts Community Safety Conference

Arts, Ideas, and Activation: Embodying Antiracism Fellows Share Creations

Dance Department Holds Ukrainian Dance Workshop

JCCP’s ‘We Make History’ Project Seeking Entries

JCCP Awards 13 Student-Led Groups with Innovation Funds

2020 JCCP Student Innovation Fund Grantees Announced

Startup Incubator Class Pitches Ideas to Middletown Community

Watson Directs the Jewett Center for Community Partnerships