Taken By: Constance Thomas
Currently Detroit is the largest US city to be under control of an unelected official with sweeping powers to gut public services and the wages and pensions of city workers, as stated from the article “Emergency Financial Manager Takes over Detroit,” back in March by Bryan Dyne. Earlier this week the issue was posed that The Detroit Institute of Arts assets are up for sale. These assets would help the allying financial crisis the city has been facing for the past few years.
Detroit Institute of Arts (DIA) not only holds timeless art, but special events such as fashion shows, concerts, and worthy cause fundraisers are held here though out the year. As well as nuptials taking place in the famous Kresge Court.
The opening paragraph in the Detroit News stated this, “Detroit emergency manager Kevyn Orr is considering whether the multibillion-dollar collection at the Detroit Institute of Arts should be considered city assets that potentially could be sold to cover about $15 billion in debt”. Orr was stated saying he would begin negotiating concession from Detroit’s creditors and unions in an effort to address the city’s crisis without resorting to bankruptcy.
Currently Detroit has a $347million deficit and a $14billion in long-term liabilities. (Dyne, 2013). Mr. Orr is currently three months in on his eighteen-month tenure as the city’s emergency financial Manager. Michael Byrne, vice president of the Royal Oak Arts Council (suburb of Detroit) had this to say to the Oakland Press about the current issue, “It’s just absolutely beyond my ability to see the Detroit community – meaning all the surrounding counties – be stripped of this kind of culture.
Just recently the DIA faced an internal financial strain. To help put the DIA on better financial standing, the museum waged a successful drive last year to pass a 10-year, 0.2-mil tax in Wayne, Oakland and Macomb counties in last August’s election to generate $23 million in operating costs per year. The economic lifeline for the institution also allowed it to offer free admission for residents of the counties that approved the tax, (Oakland Press, May 24, 2013)
Sculpture outside of DIA. Photo Taken by: Constance Thomas
On Thursday the 23rd, the DIA’s Facebook page made a statement, “According to those standards, the City cannot sell art to generate funds for any purpose other than to enhance the collection.” More information will be dispersed in the future, but until then the timeless pieces of art stays put.
