This article combines three stories by Harmony Birch that were published in the Brattleboro Reformer on July 19 and 20, 2017.
[B]RATTLEBORO — The remaining executive board members of New England Center for Circus Arts have resigned, according to a press release from NECCA.
Remaining board members Mel Martin, Tracy Prentiss and Linda Schiffer have resigned, effective immediately, the release said. The Reformer was unable to immediately reach Martin, Prentiss or Schiffer for further comment Thursday morning.
Executive Director Michael Helmstadter also officially stepped down at 8 a.m. on Thursday, according to the release. He had previously intended to resign on July 28.
In the press release, issued Wednesday night, the board members said they were stepping aside to let new leadership take over.
“Progress has been made, coaches have returned to work, and classes are resuming. The board is taking this opportunity to step aside so that new leadership can continue the conversation,” the press release said. “We look forward to seeing the new building filled with students.”
It was unclear who will be taking over the board members’ positions.
Speaking for the coaches, James Valente said they would provide additional comment later Thursday.
Helmstadter said he resigned as executive director on Friday because “rightly or wrongly, I’ve become a polarizing figure in this. I care about NECCA. If I’m going to be divisive in NECCA’s views, I’d prefer to remove myself from the conversation.”
He started working with NECCA as a volunteer in 2016, and he said he was involved with the acquisition of NECCA’s new building. Helmstadter’s wife, Tracy Prentiss, was on NECCA’s board. Some have argued that Helmstadter’s appointment as executive director was a conflict of interest because of his wife’s position on the board.
“That’s the board’s affair,” Helmstadter said, noting that the board asked him to be executive director because of his experience helping to finance the new building. His wife, he said, abstained from any vote that involved him.
Helmstadter said that when he accepted the position it was on an interim basis. NECCA’s last interim executive director, Valerie Bailey, had to step down with no notice because of health concerns.
Sources told the Reformer that Helmstadter had a salary of $90,000 a year. Helmstadter neither confirmed nor denied the salary, but said he was paid the same amount Bailey had been paid and, unlike Bailey, worked as an independent contractor, meaning he gets no unemployment after resigning.
A number of sources told the Reformer that NECCA founders Elsie Smith and Serenity Smith Forchion were removed because Helmstadter had personal vendettas against them.
“There is absolutely no personal vendetta,” Helmstadter said. “I acted on the board’s recommendation and directive. I have always thought that Elsie and Serenity are superb coaches. It was a privilege to observe the dedication and care that they took with their students.”
As executive director, Helmstadter said, he had less responsibilities than the average executive director. He primarily recommended best practices for the organization. He said his recommendations weren’t always taken well because, “change is difficult.”
Helmstadter said his daughter has performed and taken classes at NECCA since she was 4 years old. She’s 12 now. He described NECCA as being important for his daughter. “I will do whatever I can do to assist NECCA and be a friend to NECCA,” he said.
Meantime, as camp resumed at the New England Center for Circus Arts Wednesday, negotiations between board members and coaches continued. With the resignation of the board, it’s unclear when those negotiations will resume.
Twenty coaches were on strike on Tuesday and 16 had resigned, following the firing of NECCA founders Elsie Smith and Serenity Smith Forchion.
On Wednesday, camp continued with all striking coaches returning to work and discussions being made to possibly rehire coaches that had resigned. Youth programing director, Erin Lovett-Sherman, had all camp activities back up and running, according to Jamie Hodgson, NECCA’s PROtrack director.
Hodgson said the coaches are waiting for the go-ahead from the executive director to start offering all NECCA programs again.
Smith and Forchion released a statement on Wednesday thanking coaches for putting negotiations forward in a positive manner, and for the support they’ve received from the community.
“I very much hope we can have something good to report soon … we don’t have much time as students are needing to make life choices leading up to the beginning of the fall semester that starts in early September,” Forchion wrote in the statement. “Leases to sign for or give us and move, jobs to seek locally or go somewhere else, training is an ongoing need and circus professionals need to keep their instrument tuned or risk injury. Just in stalling in their answers the board is putting so much at risk.”