Brookstone Performing Arts directors reconcile
TORONTO, ON - Two members of Canada's Christian arts community have issued a joint statement of reconciliation regarding the crash of Brookstone Performing Arts in 2003.
Toronto's only Christian theatrical company laid off staff in 2003, facing debts of more than $130,000. It had a brief comeback in 2004, but closed permanently in 2005.
Former associate artistic director Tom Carson started an e-mail campaign following the crash aimed at pressuring the board to address some of his concerns.
"Out of the confusion and intense feelings of betrayal and alienation I experienced during the crash," Carson now says in the joint statement, "I wrongly made personal accusations against [founder and artistic director] Dennis Hassell that were not true.
"This caused a great deal of personal hurt to him and his family, for which I am truly sorry. Due to the situation at Brookstone, my anger and frustration crossed the boundary from professional to personal."
"Due to shock, grief and feelings of guilt, I did not exercise effective moral leadership as the artistic founder of Brookstone during the crisis," says Hassell in the statement. "I own shared responsibility for several of the circumstances that created the crash. I deeply regret the financial hardship and tremendous stress to Tom and his family that the Brookstone crash created.
"Also, in my opinion, Brookstone's ultimate cessation of theatrical activity in 2005 was not caused by Tom's actions."
Steve Cox, pastor of Walmer Road Baptist Church, facilitated the mediation. Carson and Hassell have pledged to refrain from making public or private comments about the other.
"The reconciliation has meant the Christian theatre artists who we both worked with no longer have to feel an alliance to either one of us," Carson says. "As a result, there's much more open communication and collaboration happening."
This fall, The Arts Engine of which Carson is a director, will produce a full season of touring theatre productions for churches, including Hassell's play "The Big Picture."
"Without reconciliation, this wouldn't have been possible," says Carson.
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