The Vermont Performing Arts League plans to shut its doors as it reckons with allegations of sexual misconduct against its former president, Ben Bergstein.
The Burlington-based organization has been in turmoil since a VTDigger investigation last month revealed a pattern of alleged abuse by Bergstein, who led the league for decades. Eight people VTDigger interviewed described misconduct by Bergstein that ranged from verbal harassment to groping.
Last week, the city of Winooski voted to terminate the organization’s lease of the O’Brien Community Center, where it ran much of its programming. The week prior, Hinsdale Properties said it, too, would break ties with the organization.
Now, a new interim board said it is working to dissolve the nonprofit — and chart a path forward.
In a press release posted to Facebook on Sunday, four board members announced their intent to shut down the organization and “consult the community on how to best allocate its resources.” Three of those members — David Cooper, Michael Meehan and David Schein — are new to the organization.
The organization, the board wrote, was in crisis and “lost credibility as an organization and can no longer function under its present name and structure.”
The new board arrives in the wake of the resignation of nearly all of the organization’s staff and previous board members.
Bergstein stepped down from his position at the beginning of April. And though his wife, April Werner, had originally planned to remain the organization’s executive director, she has since broken ties with the organization entirely. Multiple people told VTDigger Werner had been aware of Bergstein’s behavior. She has repeatedly denied the allegations.
Internal emails obtained by VTDigger document weeks of turmoil within the organization, as calls grew for Werner to step down and, one by one, employees departed.
In one April 23 email to staff, Werner urged employees to “consider whether you can commit to supporting me in carrying out my job.”
This included, she wrote, “concentrating on your current assignments, respecting and following my directions, and keeping a positive attitude and consistent messaging in dealing with the public.”
Within days, three staff members had resigned.
“I think what disgusted me most is the adamant denial, instead of the impulse to learn and change for the better,” a former employee wrote in a resignation letter.
Another former employee, who asked not to be identified for fear of retaliation, told VTDigger that, for months, some staff were not informed that Bergstein had been barred from the O’Brien Center due to his alleged misconduct. In February, the arts league wrote to the city of Winooski claiming that “all staff have been advised that Ben is not to be on the premises in Winooski.”
“I did not hear anything about that,” the employee said.
Reached by VTDigger on Monday, Schein said he wanted to focus on the road ahead. “Everybody’s throwing out VPAL because of the allegations,” he said. “We totally understand that.”
“But what do we do with all the assets and the knowledge and the programs?” he said.
Schein says he worried that the dissolution of the arts league could leave the communities that relied on its home base, North End Studios, for event space and business in a lurch. He said he plans to press city officials to “step up to the plate.”
Still, pressure remains for the organization — dissolved or not — to reckon with its past. “Can you talk about what the interim board is considering for plans to acknowledge what has happened and make amends?” wrote local resident Laura Hale in response to Schein’s Facebook announcement.
Mellisa Cain, a community organizer and one of the women who told VTDigger that Bergstein had harassed her, said she was conflicted by the news of the organization’s dissolution. The new board, she said, “isn’t really acknowledging anything that’s happened.”
“We hope justice is given to everyone involved in terms of (the allegations),” Schein told VTDigger on Monday. “But my concern is the loss of community space.”