From ArborWiki

The Neutral Zone is a youth-driven teen center dedicated to promoting personal growth through artistic expression, community leadership, and the exchange of ideas.

Contact Info: http://www.neutral-zone.org, 734-214-9995, 310 E. Washington St., Ann Arbor, MI 48104.

Neutral Zone offers an after school drop in space, weekend concerts, and weekly programs in community leadership, education, literary arts, music performance and technology, and visual arts.

Drop-in: Monday-Thursday 2:30-8, and Fridays until 6pm. Come to the Neutral Zone and just chill. Shoot pool, play air hockey or foosball, watch TV or videos, or just hang out. Also, we provide tutors and snacks in our quiet study space on Monday thru Thursday, 3-5pm.

Concerts @ the B-Side see www.myspace.com/thebsidevenue Hundreds of teens hit the B-Side, NZ’s newly named concert venue, for concerts by local teen and adult musicians. From hip-hop to jazz, ska to rock, with occasional karaoke, poetry slams and dance parties. What makes the B-Side the place to be? No parents. No drugs or alcohol. Hot new venue. Door charge applies.

Community Leadership

Teen Advisory Council, Tuesdays, 7-8:30 pm When we say Neutral Zone is youth-run, this is what we mean. TAC supports the organization by approving and evaluating programs, raising money and deciding how that money gets spent. It’s a big job, but very satisfying and vital to the Neutral Zone.

Building Bridges, Mondays, 7-8:30pm, interview and application required, as well as, an additional program fee and fundraising. Building Bridges is our new service-learning program. We gather weekly during the first semester for intensive study and discussion about the history, politics, and culture of New Orleans. During mid-winter break, we go south to New Orleans and gain first hand experience through our work with people as we help to rebuild their homes.

North Star, Tuesdays, 7-9pm An open discussion group just for young women — our “guiding light” each week. We talk about relevant topics you care about. Our discussions are informative, fun, and positive; our atmosphere is comfortable and conducive to talk about sensitive and personal issues.

Riot Youth, Fridays, 4-6pm Our aim is to create and sustain a youth-run safe space for queer and queer-friendly youth and youth activists. The focus is on educating and discussing within the group while also supporting a variety of local youth activist and outreach projects.

SEED (Students Educating Each other about Discrimination), Wednesdays 7-8:30pm, interview and application required, community resource credit. We take our experiences building a strong, diverse community, and share them with middle school youth in order to combat discrimination. SEED meets weekly to develop workshops and learn how to facilitate discussion among groups of middle school youth.

STAND, Thursdays, 7-8:30pm You may have heard of the atrocities taking place in Darfur, but what can you do about it? We learn about the history of Darfur, the past efforts to stop similar crises, and we work to take action. This is a chance for social activism to make a difference.

Education

Tutoring, Mondays through Thursdays, 3-5pm. Our dedicated quiet space accompanied by tutors and food, provides the ideal study environment. Drop-in or call in advance to request a tutor who has knowledge in the subject area of your need. Supported by Washtenaw County

College Prep, Thursdays, 5-6pm, interview and application required Designed for teens that need financial resources to access support for the college application process, we provide an intensive yearlong program that includes - mentoring, workshops, college visits, and one-on-one college application, scholarship, and financial aid process. Supported by Kaplan Test Prep and Admissions

Literary Arts & Performance

Short Story Workshop, Fridays 4-6pm Let’s keep it short. In between writing short ?ction and short, short ?ction, we’ll read favorite published works, workshop each other’s stories, and did we mention write, write, write?

Volume Youth Poetry Project, Thursdays, 7-9pm We meet weekly to write, critique and read our poetry with one another. In addition to writing and performing nationally recognized, award-winning poetry, we perform at local coffee shops, bookstores, and several large-scale community events.

Music Performance and Technology Recording Studio: Beat making and Audio Engineering, Tuesday- Thursday, 6-8pm, Fridays, 4-6pm. After a short introductory course to the studio, certified teens have access to create music through technology by using our MPC2000, Reason, Logic, Garageband, Cool Edit, ProTools, and Triton Keyboard/Workstations. A series of courses that include Live Sound Engineering, Logic, and Audio Engineering are available.

Djing, Tuesdays, 6-7:30pm It’s DJing 101 — the fundamentals. Scratch, mix, and acquire the skills it takes to become a DJ. Learn the history of DJing, the basics to setting and performing your own gigs, and master how to dig for records at the local shops.

MCing, Fridays, 4-6pm Meet up with hip hop artists in our community through writing, recording, and performing rhymes. We write original rhymes and share critiques, use ProTools to record, and host monthly open mics to feature our work.

Youth Owned Records, Thursdays, 5:30-7pm YOR, one of the first youth-operated record labels in the country, is dedicated to recording, distributing and marketing the freshest local teen artists. Youth company members work to find the best acts, get them into the recording studio and successfully promote and sell their original music.

B-Side Promotion, Mondays, 4:30-6pm Combine your business skills and love of music through booking and promoting concerts and special events at the Neutral Zone. Event promoters meet weekly to discuss upcoming events, create marketing strategies, and learn what it takes to run the B-Side, our concert venue.

Breakin’Curfew Curator Team, Wednesdays, 6-8pm, interview required. Breakin’ Curfew, a multi-media youth production at the Power Center, is scheduled for May 9, 2008. Join the team of curators who do everything from programming, production, marketing, and working backstage the night of the event.

Visual Arts

Reform, Mondays, 6-8pm Our experimental sewing collective remixes old clothes or starts from scratch to create new styles. Create your own trend. Beginner sewers welcomed.

Art Works, Tuesdays, 5-7pm. applications required, email samples to artworks.neutralzone@gmail.com Build your entrepreneurial skills to succeed as a professional artist. Develop marketing materials, learn professional presentation, and sell your art in our local community.

Visual Arts Council (VAC), Wednesdays, 4-6pm This is the hub of local teen artists. VAC brings together teen artists from multiple high schools for events and projects such as hosting exhibitions, visiting galleries and museums, creating original art at all-night lock-ins, and serving our community through art.

Digital Video, Wednesdays, 6-8pm Lights, camera, randomness… what is your idea for a video? Bring a script or storyboard; we have the equipment and computer programs to bring it to life.

Photography, Thursdays, 4-6 pm See the world through the lens of a camera. Join a team of artists as we hike through the community to take interesting photographs. We host critiques to fine-tune our skills. Bring your own camera if you have it, and if not, we have a few to share.

Photoshop, Thursdays, 6-8pm Master your Photoshop skills – create digital collages, generate original digital work, edit and manipulate your digital photographs, and more.

Screen-printing, Fridays, 4-6pm Our in-house screen-printing business partner, Modati hosts the basics of designing and printing your images on t-shirts, posters, and more. Learn more about Modati at modati.com

Phone: 734-214-9995
Email: info@neutral-zone.org
310 East Washington
Ann Arbor, MI 48105