Editor’s note: This story by Harmony Birch was first published July 20, 2017 in the Brattleboro Reformer.
[B]RATTLEBORO — After nearly two weeks of upheaval that saw protests, mass resignations and students demanding refunds, the New England Center for Circus Arts is hoping to wipe the slate clean with an entirely new board of directors, a new interim executive director and the return of the founding sisters as artistic directors.
NECCA founders Elsie Smith and Serenity Smith Forchion were terminated by the previous board on July 10. After the news was made public, many coaches and staff resigned and went on strike, students began canceling their classes and asking for their deposits back, and donors started withdrawing their pledges. A rally was held on July 14 in support of the founders, with many protesters demanding the resignation of then-Executive director Michael Helmstadter, and the entire board of directors.
Also on July 14, the previous board issued a press release stating that NECCA was “on the verge of closing its doors within a week.”
However, the next day coaches started negotiations with the previous board about how to move NECCA forward. They demanded new board members and that Smith and Forchion be reinstated in the organization.
Those demands were met on Thursday with the resignations of the remaining board members and the reinstatement of the founding sisters.
The new board members are Board President Elizabeth Wohl, a local attorney; Martin Langeveld, former publisher of the Brattleboro Reformer and several other regional newspapers; Lisa Sullivan, entrepreneur and owner of Bartleby’s Books; Solveig Gannon-Kurowski, partner and project manager at LogicBranch Productions; Eileen Marie Sheppard, local artist and businesswoman; Dr. Kathleen McGraw, chief medical officer at Brattleboro Memorial Hospital; and Kate Law, circus professional and co-artistic director at Bow & Sparrow, according to a press release that came out Thursday afternoon.
Jeffrey Lewis, a former executive director of Brattleboro Development Credit Corp., was appointed by the new board as interim executive director, and Jamie Hodgson, former NECCA ProTrack director, was appointed to the newly created position of operations director.
Hodgson said she was happy to serve NECCA in whatever way she could.
“It’s basically my job to make sure everyone else is doing their jobs,” said Hodgson, whose role is primarily organizational. She’ll be checking in with different departments, listening to them and addressing their needs.
These appointments followed an announcement on Wednesday night that the remaining members of the former executive board had resigned.
James Valente, an attorney who represented NECCA’s coaching staff after the founders’ firing, said the resignations of previous board members Mel Martin, Tracy Prentiss and Linda Schiffer were “unexpected.”
Lewis said that he and Wohl had been talking about how to support NECCA for the past six weeks. Wohl is a student at NECCA and had sensed turmoil going on organizationally. Almost two weeks ago, when Smith and Forchion were fired, she and Lewis took action behind the scenes.
After Wednesday night’s resignations – which would have left NECCA without a board and with no way for coaches and staff to appoint a new board, Valente said – Wohl and Lewis reached out to the former board members asking them to appoint a new board before they officially resigned.
“We were trying to plan the recovery,” Lewis said. The board members were not officially made aware of their new positions until Thursday afternoon.
The new board has some overlap with board appointees that the coaches recommended during their draft agreement. Other board members seemed to come from out of nowhere, Hodgson said.
Along with rehiring Smith and Forchion, all coaches and staff who had sent in resignation letters are back on staff. Helmstadter had refused the resignations before he officially stepped down.
“I thought it was a really nice gesture,” Hodgson said. “It meant that we were never not working for the organization.”
During a press conference on Thursday afternoon, the new board announced the new developments to the NECCA community. Coaches stood with the new board as the changes were announced. Many of them had just learned the news.
“The reaction is incredible relief and excitement at the way the coaches have worked together, and the incredible respect we have for each other, and the incredible desire everyone has to make this the best school we possibly can,” said Tony Duncan, a juggling coach who has worked with Smith and Forchion since 2004.
Smith learned of her and Forchion’s reinstatement at the conference.
During coaches negotiations it was asked that Smith and Forchion return to the organization in new roles. The new board thought that new roles for the founders should be developed after the board and organization had collected its bearings.
Smith said reformatting her and Forchion’s roles will be easier and clearer, but will likely take time.”I think that this process has given us a clear idea of where the strengths are in our coaching staff for sure,” Smith said.
In the meantime, Smith is focused on rebuilding NECCA.
“We really need to get our students back in here, get circus back in here. That’s our first priority,” she said. “Also, it’s a little crass for us to say, but we need money to happen, because it has been a very difficult struggle, and we need both students and finances. Then, once we have that, we can look at some of the long-range visions that we’ve had for so long. “
After the press conference everyone expressed their gratitude for the overwhelming support NECCA had received during its crises.
“I want to thank everyone. I want to thank the community that supported us, ” Hodgson said. “I want to thank every single person who wrote a letter — they made me cry. I want to thank the new board for stepping up, I want to thank Elizabeth and the Executive Director Jeff for believing in the staff and the coaches that were here.”
It is still unclear as to why the former board members stepped down.
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 stated. “We look forward to seeing the new building filled with students.”
The Reformer was unable to reach Martin, Prentiss or Schiffer for further comment Thursday.
