Save the Emerson!

Jacob, I would love to hear your story! I started this petition last year when I was treated horribly. [email protected].

Susan Denson is an awful human being. She is a power hungry person that should not be dealing with the public.

I won’t go into detail here but if you need the story feel free to reach out. Honestly not sure if I’ve ever felt more disrespected in my life.

As a former tenant, I concur with all of the statements about Susan Denson-Guy. She knows she's not qualified to run the Emerson. She therefore takes out her bottomless well of insecurity on anyone within earshot. She effectively ran me out of the building. She's just a miserable, uphappy bully. Must be fun to be so universally disliked. She's a poster-child for our culture.

1 year ago Featured

The unethical behavior of the ed extends into every corner of the Emerson. From the lack of engagement amongst tenants, to the insane rent hikes, to the 50% price markup on clay prices for ceramics classes - how in earth this place claims to support “community” is beyond me.

I was a tenant for several years and I can vouch for most of these comments because they happened to me personally, and I witnessed countless others treated similarly. We routinely suffered verbal abuse, legal threats, were lied to and received emails written by Susan but sent as an employe. How can that even be legal? I saw employees treated horribly, especially once they gave notice of quitting. Btw, the staff turnover is very high. It is untenable that the board does nothing and our requests are repeatedly ignored. How can the board overlook over 400 signatures from the community calling for change? how can they overlook all of the comments claiming abuse? How can they support this director? We need answers. This is clearly way more than a few disgruntled employees, tenants or patrons. The director has done some good things but is clearly lacking in key areas. It saddens me that no one is able to do anything about the situation. The Emerson emails paint a pretty picture, but do the math, the figures/accolades are grossly exaggerated. Walk down Galleria hall, and you will see vacant galleries, and empty halls. Go upstairs and you will likely see no one. So to whomever is reading this, please do something! It’s only a matter of time before Emerson is sued and then we will have nothing. How can the board sleep at night knowing what takes place there and doing nothing to fix it? Why won’t the director step down knowing so many community members want change? She claims the board makes the decisions but with a 4-person board, she only needs two votes for a quorum. The director is obviously only motivated by money and power…keep that in mind when choosing where to make year end donations. Speaking of which, where did all the lawn fundraising money go? I saw plans for the improvements once, but clearly none have been made.

Years ago I heard stories about horrible treatment to an employee. Obviously it wasn’t a one off.

I agree with this

Myself and an employee I managed had the worst experience I’ve had with an organization in Bozeman. The ED was so disrespectful and unprofessional I personally opted to not support the Emerson in any way since that interaction a few years ago. I am quite surprised this person still holds this job.

Please.

I haven't had any personal interactions with the ED, and I always hesitate to join any online condemnation of someone. However, there are so many people whose views I respect that are calling for change, it seems obvious that new leadership is needed. Perhaps the board members are hesitating because they fear litigation? But if the evidence is so overwhelming, any suit is likely to either be dismissed or easily won. Surely it is time for some new leadership at the Emerson?

There is no place for bullying.

Exactly "who" are the members of the Emerson? I have requested a copy of the ByLaws from the BOARD email link at the bottom of their November 22nd response to the Chronicle stating that they are still going to support Susan. This is such negligence on their part. If something isn't done, she will ruin the Emerson and run it into the ground. She has recruited ALL board members since day one. Essentially choosing her own bosses. The ByLaws should state how the board is to be governed. If the current board is not going to listen to the community then they should be tossed. When a board position becomes available, no one ever knows about it because nothing is ever posted or sent out to "members". I want to see how the ByLaws are written, but I personally don't think the board is going to respond to my request. The next step is to request them from the IRS, but I'm sure that will be a slow process. There has to be some other recourse. She is going to ruin what so many people worked so hard for and so many people donated big money to support.

Awful person

Trash human being

Until the members of Emerson Culture Center Inc. decide to make some changes it is clear that this board of directors will not. It would be a good decision to expand the size of the board from 4 back to the 12 that it used to be, ideally including a tenant rep. It is too easy for a strong personality/leader to take an organization down the wrong path as clearly has occurred here. Shockingly, just LAST YEAR the board engaged a special committee to investigate issues such as these with the ED and after the Chronicle article and all of these other incidents have come to light the board felt it necessary to come out in support of Susan. That sadly speaks volumes. Moreover, this board's decision to jack rents up 20% this year, and 40% over the past three years, simply because downtown Bozeman rents have increased is indicative of a leadership that has lost sight of the mission. Sure, it should be managed to pay the expenses and repair the building, along with setting aside funds for improvements and future maintenance. But a quick look at the Form 990 (nonprofit equivalent of a 1040) doesn't show that they're operating at a loss nor have they pointed to any expected large capital improvements forthcoming. They simply raised rents because they could. Add to the mix several commercial tenants and is obvious to see that the board has forgotten that the mission of the Emerson is to support the Arts, not maximize profits.

Exactly! It’s an abusive management style that leaves a wake of aggressive deflection. Currently, the feedback says the community has had enough of SDG’s abuse. We want hospitality over hostility! Save the Emerson!

The Emerson's mission can't be fulfilled so long as staff, tenants, and apparently even visitors are so disrespected. I struggle to understand how an executive director who curses at staff, belittles them to the point of tears and doctor's notes, and lacks the basic communications skills required to alert tenants to rate increases is enabling the Emerson to 'innovate and evolve', let alone building community in accordance with the mission statement. Accountability does not look like Denson-Guy chalking up her history of harassment and intimidation to a 'direct management style'. Nor does writing off years' of criticism for such behavior as 'current feedback' demonstrate any sort of self-reflection.

I am disturbed by the recent article in the Chronicle in which Susan asserts that she does not yell. Having served as the Educational Curator for a years time I cannot recall a day in which Susan did not yell at a staff member, community member, artist, or tenant. Jason Baide's amnesia regarding reports I made directly to he and the board regarding Susan's abusive behavior and the continued failure of their attempts to bring change through the service of consultant is convenient and disturbing. Nothing has changed and the board is well aware of this. I personally suffered regular anxiety attacks during my time working for Susan. Her behavior was erratic, manipulative, and abusive. Staff members hid from her, and held "weather reports" every morning in which we would share what kind of mood Susan was in that day. Susan uses the security cameras on site to spy on staff, community members, and tenants. Susan is the only person with access these cameras, which feed directly to her cell phone. Susan has access to all of staff's email, and is known to not only access and read staff's communications, but to send communications from their email pretending to be the staff member. The instances of abuse I could share would fill pages. It's time for this organization to recognize the abuse and take action. With only 4 serving board members, the problem has become systemic.

I am flabbergasted by Susan’s denial of her management style being anything other than abusive. She yelled on a daily basis during my tenure at the Emerson. To claim that she is not a yeller is comical to anyone that has worked directly with her. She regularly belittled employees in front of one another, read our emails, wrote emails from our email addresses, surveyed us, tenants, and community members from the surveillance cameras that can only be accessed by her from her cell phone. I could go on. The board seems to have convenient amnesia regarding reports that I made directly to them regarding Susan’s behavior during my time there. It’s time for this organization to start actually serving the community it claims to care about and the first step is to get rid of its toxic leadership. The community is speaking and you are ignoring us.