Former Flushing arts director cops plea

A former Artistic Director of the Flushing Council on Culture and the Arts (FCCA) has pleaded guilty to a minor violation and agreed to 140 hours of community service for padding his expense account.
Harvey Seifter, 55, of 230 East 48th Street in Manhattan, had been charged with grand larceny and possession of stolen property after being arrested by police of the 102nd Precinct in early February.
If convicted, he would have faced seven years in prison.
Instead, Seifter was allowed to plead guilty to disorderly conduct and given a conditional discharge, after pledging to make restitution of $7,233.49 to FCCA and Americans for the Arts, a Manhattan-based non-profit that had hired him as a consultant.
FCCA president Howard Graf said, “We are grateful to Queens District Attorney Richard A. Brown and his staff for resolving this matter quickly.”
Under the terms of the plea bargain, if Seifter makes good on the conditions and stays out of trouble for a year, the case will be sealed and he will “basically have no criminal record,” according to the DA’s office.
From February of 2004 through May of 2007 Seifter used a variety of schemes to collect expenses, including lunches at posh midtown restaurants, hotels and Starbuck’s coffee, from both groups.
According to dates supplied by DA Brown, the duplicitous transactions began almost as soon as Seifter was hired by FCCA as both Executive and Artistic Director of Flushing Town Hall – and continued even after he was reportedly fired and escorted from the building in November of 2006.
The “double-dipping” came to light after the city’s Department of Investigations took an interest in Seifter’s activities and inspected the records of both non-profits.
When contacted by The Queens Courier, Seifter said his penance would be “work involving a food bank and hunger, which is a cause I’m concerned with.” He said his attorney would respond to any “legal questions.”
Seifter is a classically-trained musician with a long career in the arts, including the helm of the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, San Francisco’s Magic Theater, and New York’s Theater for the New City.
As an authority in the field of arts-based learning for business, Seifter’s book, Leadership Ensemble: Lessons in Collaborative Management had been published in seven languages.
According to former employees at FCCA, Seifter’s powerhouse reputation in the arts and “very abrasive management style” enabled him to bully underlings into facilitating his scheme.
“The book was why I wanted to work with him,” said Sean Pollock, who identified himself as a deputy director under Seifter, “but the way he wrote was not how he behaved.” After six months, Pollock said he “could no longer work there.”
Pollock said he has not found a position in his field since leaving. “I gave up a good arts position for more administrative experience with Seifter as a mentor,” Pollock said. “I feel like collateral damage.”