Arts events bring new life into the former campus

By Evan Witt, for the Community News Service

PLAINFIELD – The people trying to revitalize Goddard College’s former campus are counting on the arts. They say the new program is starting to gain traction, with summer events drawing crowds and attention.

“What’s going on here now is the dream come true,” said Kris Gruen, director of the nonprofit group The Creative Campus at Goddard and a Goddard College graduate. 

He praised developers Execusuite LLC for being, “open to the hopes and dreams of the local community.”

Gruen gave two examples of success from this summer: sold-out concerts and a retreat for playwrights that attracted international attention.

After closing in 2024, Goddard College was bought by Execusuite. Owner Mike Davidson asked the community of Plainfield to decide what should be done, resulting in the development of Creative Campus.

“It’s a nonprofit organization dedicated to cultivating a dynamic, intentional community where people of all ages come together to foster creative expression, live holistically, create new models of community living,” Gruen said.

The primary goal of Creative Campus is to foster the creative arts, he said. Examples include concerts, plays, creative arts courses and retreats.

“It’s really an invitation to people who want to bring their creative practice to a space that supports it, a space that has a community to engage around it,” Gruen said.

Another goal is to act as an economic driver for the town of Plainfield, filling the gap that was left by Goddard College. 

Many elements of Goddard College have been preserved through this new creative arts venue, including the Haybarn Theatre and the former college dorms.

This summer, Creative Campus hosted the Green Mountain Playwright Retreat, a four-day program run by playwright and Goddard graduate Erin Galligan Baldwin.

The retreat received submissions from playwrights in Vermont and beyond, resulting in a selective process of choosing which plays would be presented at the event, Baldwin said.

“I got 603 submissions from all over the world when I posted it. It went viral,” she said.

In addition to hosting playwrights, Creative Campus presented plays in the Haybarn Theatre, which is well known in the community.

“It’s been a theater space in Plainfield on the college campus since 1934,” Gruen said, “so it was one of the first things that got rejuvenated after the purchase of the campus last year.”

Nearby, Haybarn Restaurant and Lounge provides theatergoers and others somewhere to dine, including Vermont veggie burgers, avocado hummus and apple crisp. It’s closed for remodeling until Oct. 1. 

In addition, Creative Campus rents out about 60 to 70 dorm-style rooms. Some are suites, but most are singles and double rooms, Gruen said.

The dorms provide a housing option for people coming from longer distances, giving them the ability to stay the night before or during an event.

The dorms, as well as other buildings at Goddard College, are in need of care. For example, some guests this summer were displeased when a bat got into the dormitories.

“If you’re used to country living, it’s not a huge deal to have a critter,” said Baldwin, who added she understood that developers are working to improve facilities. “I think in the future, if we’re catering to clientele from Boston or New York, we don’t want bats flying around.”

As for the plans for developing housing on campus, Gruen said that Execusuite LLC is still in the planning stages. Davidson did not respond immediately to an email requesting comment.

Baldwin said she was happy to be back on campus where she graduated and back at the Haybarn Theatre, and excited for the future of the community as well.

“Central Vermont, and all of Vermont, has been through a lot with the flooding and with everything. I just thought this is a resurgence of an extremely important part of our state and part of our history and our culture here,” she said. 

Via Community News Service, a University of Vermont journalism internship for The Hardwick Gazette