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News
For Immediate Release
August 8, 2006
The Arts & Cultural Council for Greater Rochester and Monroe County Bar Association Announce New Partnership
ROCHESTER , NY —The Arts & Cultural Council for Greater Rochester is pleased to announce its partnership with the Monroe County Bar Association to provide pro-bono legal services for arts-related issues to eligible cultural organization and individual artist members.
“We are so grateful to the Bar Association for taking this on,” said Sarah E. Lentini, President and CEO of the Arts Council. “It is a tremendous benefit to our members, and means that we can draw from a much wider pool of possible attorneys when seeking referrals.”
The Arts Council’s legal referral program, available to its members, provides access to pro bono legal counsel for such issues as filing for non-profit status, contract reviews and disputes, and other issues common to artists and arts organizations. The program is for non-profit arts organizations with annual budgets under $400,000, and for artists whose income is at 200 percent of the federal poverty guidelines, or slightly more than $19,000 a year for an individual.
The program has existed at the Arts Council for a number of years, spearheaded by past Arts Council Board Chair, and Nixon Peabody attorney Michael Cooney. “We had a small, but dedicated group of lawyers to draw from,” Lentini noted. “As the number of members accessing the program began to grow, we realized that we needed to expand that pool.”
Paul Nunes, an Arts Council board member and attorney with Underberg and Kessler who chairs the council’s legal assistance committee, approached the Bar Association’s Executive Director, Mary Corbitt, and Louise Spinelli, the association’s Lawyer Referral Service Manager, about providing referrals. “It has worked extremely well,” Lentini said. "Through the Bar Association’s Lawyer Referral Service, our members receive attorney referrals quickly.”
Members seeking a referral must first meet with Arts Council staff and fill out an application. If deemed eligible, the Arts Council then contacts the Bar Association, which recruits the attorneys. Referrals are made on a case-by-case basis; attorneys are not on retainer, and applicants pay all out-of-pocket fees, such as filing and courier fees. For information about the Arts Council’s Legal Referral Program, contact Clare Gunther, (585) 473-4000, ext. 210, or cgunther@artsrochester.org.
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