Detroit Art Museum Struggles to Find Right Balance in Giving to Fund
THE DETROIT NEWS
By Daniel Howes
MICHIGAN---The Detroit Institute of Arts is angling to contribute to an estimated $700 million fund to protect its collection from creditors and bolster underfunded city pensions. The question, people close to the process say, is not whether the museum will commit to raising cash over and above its roughly $12 million in annual fundraising and continuing endowment drive. It’s how much is needed to close the deal, to get the attention of creditors and to cement a state contribution that would require approval of the Legislature. DIA Chairman Gene Gargaro discussed the issue Friday with Gov. Rick Snyder in Washington, where the governor accepted a public leadership award from Americans for the Arts. Snyder, who is spearheading a state effort to pay $350 million over 20 years, urged the DIA to participate in a fund that would be a linchpin of any Detroit bankruptcy settlement. The DIA has retained a New York strategic communications firm, BerlinRosen, to help shape its message and its reverberation in the hyper-critical art world. [link]
By Daniel Howes
MICHIGAN---The Detroit Institute of Arts is angling to contribute to an estimated $700 million fund to protect its collection from creditors and bolster underfunded city pensions. The question, people close to the process say, is not whether the museum will commit to raising cash over and above its roughly $12 million in annual fundraising and continuing endowment drive. It’s how much is needed to close the deal, to get the attention of creditors and to cement a state contribution that would require approval of the Legislature. DIA Chairman Gene Gargaro discussed the issue Friday with Gov. Rick Snyder in Washington, where the governor accepted a public leadership award from Americans for the Arts. Snyder, who is spearheading a state effort to pay $350 million over 20 years, urged the DIA to participate in a fund that would be a linchpin of any Detroit bankruptcy settlement. The DIA has retained a New York strategic communications firm, BerlinRosen, to help shape its message and its reverberation in the hyper-critical art world. [link]
