John Burton said his biggest challenge now is quelling the negative rumors around the news that the organization he co-founded, Main Street Arts Children’s Theater, will fold in February.

“We have worked tirelessly to ensure our kids have the opportunity to participate in programming,” he told Patch on Tuesday, in an interview at the organization’s headquarters at the Yellow Monkey Village in Cross River.

Burton said the organization had “encountered a series of difficulties that would challenge any for-profit business," which led to Sunday's announcement that MSACT—an umbrella arts organization founded just over a year ago and set to expand to a campus in Mt. Kisco—would terminate operations after the new year. In an email to families of enrolled children Burton said, "I am nothing less than very sad that our vision is not going to reach completion."

Complaints, legal action

The demise of the arts center is now marked by complaints and at least two lawsuits, mainly centered around two businesses—Bramson's Music and Encore Dance—Burton and Paul Perez purchased last June.

A group of at least 15 families say they have not been refunded money for dance classes they say ended abruptly this fall. The classes were offered through Encore Dance, which operated at the Saw Mill Club under the MSACT umbrella for the first time beginning in September.

"I have nothing good to say about my experience with MSACT," said Lenore Pauline, mother to an 8-year-old girl who danced with Encore for the last six years. Pauline said she paid $1,147.20 for a half-year of classes that lasted for less than two months. After hearing that Encore would be closing its location at the Saw Mill Club, she asked for a pro-rated refund which had not yet been issued. "I think it's very sad that our children have had to witness such a horrible situation."

Sallyann Rozsa also said she was waiting for a partial refund for the $1,968 check she wrote to MSCAT that her bank confirmed was cashed last June. She said Burton sent her an email stating that his records showed a $30.00 payment. "After I emailed him back stating I would bring him a copy of my cancelled check I never recieved another email," said Rozsa.

Another dance parent, Gina Picinich, said Burton grossly undervalued the amounts of pro-rated refunds due. "I have spend hours communicating with John Burton, who agreed my refund should be $773, not $198. He said he would charge the amount back to my credit card but that has not happened," she said.

For his part, Burton said he welcomes discussions on the refunds and is issuing them every day—and on Tuesday, offered the full $773 to Picinich via a text message. He extended the refund deadline for all families from Oct. 1 to Nov. 1 because of transition issues from Encore to MSACT, which he also said led to the end of Encore at the Saw Mill Club.

Geoffrey Doig-Marx and Lori Strelec Reynolds are two of the instructors who say they were not paid for 5 weeks of teaching at Encore. Of the $2,000 Diog-Marx said he is owed, Burton said "it's being negotiated."

Burton said he couldn't comment specifically on the circumstances of the close of the Encore classes or letting go of teachers except because of pending legal action and confidential personnel information, but that it was related to merging the two programs, a desire to match childrens' ability levels with the appropriate instructors and bring on higher caliber teachers.

The Saw Mill Club did not respond to Patch requests for information about the dance programs. Dale Kolanko, former owner of Encore, said she couldn't comment due to pending legal action. Kolanko has since joined the staff of Little Fig Theatre Company at the Saw Mill Club.

In addition to complaints from the dance community Burton and Perez face lawsuits filed by Bramson’s Music, which the pair acquired last June, and the Pulse Dance Studio, from whom they rented theatre space.

The suit brought by Barbara Ellen Bramson (posted with this story) claims a breach of contract. Burton and Perez purchased the music business for $162,000 while agreeing to an additional $100,000 consulting fee to be paid to Bramson over five years. Bramson said she never received any payments nor was her medical coverage paid as promised. According to county court records, Jennifer Dell of The Pulse Performing Arts Studio has filed a claim for $125,920 in damages (also posted here). She told Patch she couldn't comment on specifics but acknowledged the claim was for about a year in back rent.

"Ludicrous," said Burton. "Our rent was $6,300 per month and we weren’t there a year." He said he couldn't go on record with any other comments except to say "every action we took was within constraints of lease signed."

Rise and fall of an arts campus

On the acquisition and subsequent close of Bramson's, Burton again cited pending legal action as a reason for not disclosing details, but said generally that he and Perez wanted to acquire arts businesses and transition them into MSACT as part of their mission to provide an umbrella for arts education in Northern Westchester—one that hasn't existed since the close of the Northern Westchester Center for the Arts closed in 2005.

"These were all distressed businesses—Bramson's had two days before it was to close, and Encore would not have survived any significant length of time on its own," he said. "We wanted to salvage what was salvageable and nurture them where there was cross pollination between businesses."

That's the reason he said he acquired a third business last month, Dance Naiad, on Railroad Avenue in Bedford Hills, because he wanted to provide "an environment for students to participate in a high-level of programming." Burton said he signed a purchase contract with the studio's owner, Carrie Tron, and as "legal owner of the assets of the business," he has been telling dance students they can transition to her studio now or in February.

But Tron said the contract contained invalid dates and was deemed "bogus" by her attorney. "He didn't pay rent for my space or pay me a salary, or pay insurance on the business," she said, noting that she was going to make a go of the business on her own.

In February, Burton announced, Main Street Arts will break out its theater program to continue under the auspices of Infinity Rep and Paul Perez's direction; dance students are offered the opportunity to continue at Dance Naiad in Bedford Hills or under the direction of MSACT's current dance director, Scottie Fernandez.

Breaking up the organization was a tough decision for the pair, who together announced their vision for an umbrella arts campus back in March 2010.

Burton said then that the space would be partially funded through private donations and foundation grants. But over the summer, he and Perez were presented with another compelling option and location that they "had a fiduciary responsibility to explore." In the meantime, he said, the lease ran out in Mt. Kisco and the donations could not be applied.

"We didn't spend a dime on that space until we knew it could happen. We are all sad that it didn’t—at the end of the day the center was economically unviable," he said.

Though the future of MSACT's dance program after February seems uncertain, the theater program is going strong and will continue, said Perez, who is preparing for this weekend's production of Spring Awakening.

"I'll be going back to what I did, teaching most of my classes to save money," he said. "I still have core teachers, and we're working hard to make sure students and parents know we are running full-tilt."

Perez said he the unrealized dream of an arts campus in Northern Westchester under Main Street Arts was "personally, terribly disappointing" but his focus was to protect what they had. "Though we're parting ways in the business, I appreciate John's support and respect him."