Another "slam" against the Arts & Cultural Council

An open letter to the NYS Council on the Arts. Never mind the moderator of this webpage; everything I post on this webpage is the gospel truth.

A letter to the New York State Council on the Arts --

Steve Jones,

I wanted to share your concerns re: the Arts &
Cultural Council of Greater Rochester.  Another staff
person at NYSCA gave me your info to address my
concerns.

I'm writing you on behalf of Friends Helping Friends,
Inc., a nonprofit organization located in Rochester,
NY.  FHF was awarded a $10,000 grant through the Arts
& Cultural Council to install a 32 ft. mural on the
exterior of our leased "food cupboard" warehouse that
distributed groceries to over 500 people a week.  As
far as I know, this mural was the largest arts project
that the A&CC funded all year.  As a pre-requisite to
recieving the grant, I had the owner of the building
sign a contract with the Arts & Cultural Council to
never remove the mural.  Naively believing that the
A&CC had the best interests of the arts and the arts
projects they helped fund, I did not keep a copy of
the contract for myself.

In 2005, Friends Helping Friends disagreement with the
owner of the building culminated with FHF ultimately
being evicted from the warehouse.  When the
disagreement became unmanageable, I contacted the Arts
& Cultural Council and requested that the A&CC assist
us in negotiating a solution or at least provide FHF
with a lawyer.  FHF had already contacted the Legal
Aid Society which provides low-quality legal
assistance aimed at preventing low-income people from
becoming homeless after an eviction.  The A&CC refused
to assist FHF or even provide a lawyer, as was
promised to members of the A&CC who were in
arts-related legal dispute (FHF was a member, in
addition to a grantee).  Instead, the A&CC referred
FHF to the Legal Aid Society, claiming that the Legal
Aid Society could help us.

I was hoping that Sarah Lentini, or her husband,
Philip Lentini, could help us, as both individuals are
affluent and influential members of Rochester and the
owner of the building did business (printing) with the
A&CC.  When Michael Futter and Clare Gunther (A&CC
employees) told me that they couldn't help me with
either request, I felt that their actions were
inappropriate.  So I sent correspondence to the Arts &
Cultural Council's Board of Directors, as well as
Michael Futter, Clare Gunther and Sarah Lentini urging
them to take action on our behalf and at very least
enforce the contract against the owner. 

When Michael Futter received the correspondence, he
used the A&CC's position as a disperser of funds to
intimidate myself and a local artist.  A "Special
Opportunity Stipend" had been awarded for an artist
that was painting a mural on a different FHF
warehouse.  I filled out the application for the
artist and signed his name with his permission, as the
artist lived one hour outside the city.  Mr. Futter
contacted both of us by phone to accuse us of fraud,
as I had signed the artists' name.  Sensing that Mr.
Futter was acting for political reasons, not for the
reasons he stated, I contacted Shaun Miller, from
NYFA.  After I explained Mr. Futter's political
motivations for accusing FHF of fraud to Mr. Miller,
Mr. Futter abruptly dropped his complaint against
Friends Helping Friends and myself. 

Sarah Lentini contacted FHF by phone and told me that
no contract ever existed and that the Arts & Cultural
Council did not do business with the owner's company.
Sarah Lentini informed me that the A&CC would sue me
for slander if I told anyone otherwise and demanded to
know if I would "shut up."  Dumbfounded, I declined to
answer and then later I contacted Sarah Lentini to
tell her that I would not remain silent (I have no
assets for Ms. Lentini to seize) and that we would
picket the Arts & Cultural Council to let the public
know how horribly the Arts & Cultural Council was
acting! 

Ms. Lentini's lawyer later sent me a letter demanding
to know who my lawyer was.  Another means of
intimidation, Ms. Lentini knew neither I, nor FHF
could afford legal assistance, as they had denied our
request for legal assistance.  Even though I was being
honest, if I could not afford legal representation, I
would lose a court case against a professional lawyer.

After I told Ms. Lentini of our intentions to picket
the Arts & Cultural Council, the Legal Aid Society
withdrew their legal assistance to Friends Helping
Friends during our eviction process, citing "a
conflict of interest."  The only conflict of interest
I could think of was that one of the directors of the
Legal Aid Society served on the board of directors for
the A&CC.  Friends Helping Friends, an organization
that provided 500 people with their weekly meals and
groceries was evicted with 72 hours notice after the
Legal Aid withdrew its support a couple days before
our last court date.  Furthermore, our legal assistant
began to cooperate with the owner's attorney to ensure
FHF's timely eviction; I suppose the long eviction
process was expensive to the owner and embarassing to
both the A&CC and the owner. 

No-one at the Legal Aid Society would tell me what the
"conflict of interest" was.  I even filed a complaint
with the local Grievance Committee for lawyers asking
about the "conflict of interest."  The Grievance
Committee told me that what happened was an
administrative decision within the Legal Aid Society
and they had no jurisdiction over that organization.

Ironically, the A&CC not only refused to help, but
facilitated our eviction.

Immediately prior to the eviction, the artist that
painted the mural contacted Sarah Lentini to urge the
A&CC to not take legal action against her for removing
the mural so that the mural would not be destroyed.
Sarah Lentini refused to respond negatively or
positively to the artist's request.  We removed the
mural anyways, to do the right thing, and risk legal
action against us from the A&CC.

After the eviction, I realized that I would still like
to apply for funding from the A&CC for community arts
projects.  So I asked Sarah Lentini to go to
arbitration with me at the Center for Dispute
Settlement to reach an understanding.  Ms. Lentini
refused to go to arbitration.

Friends Helping Friends is closing on the purchase of
our new facility in the same neighborhood as our
previous facility in April.  We think that the owner
of the previous building and/or the A&CC should pay
for the removal and new installation expenses that
FHF, an essentially all-volunteer and underfunded
organization, has incurred and will incur.  Is there
anyway you can help us with that?

I'd also like to know why the A&CC did that to us.
We're a small, grassroots nonprofit that's been
heralded as martyrs and champions for our clients in
all of the local newspapers.  The only thing I can
think of is that Ms. Lentini and the A&CC are only
interested in their own bottom line and would rather
facilitate the destruction of the largest arts project
they funded all year, than risk "rocking the boat" and
helping us.  I figure that since we're a small
volunteer organization, that Ms. Lentini figured that
it would be easier to crush us than take our side.  I
would like to think otherwise, but that's all I can
come up with right now.  I can send you documentation,
if you'd like.

Could you please follow up with this complaint and
provide me some insight into what happenend?

Andrew Stankevich
Friends Helping Friends
(585) 325-7417