In Detroit bankruptcy, what will happen to DIA?

Lorax · August-29-09, 11:53 PM

I believe the Founder's Soicety has control over operations at the musuem, a role they accepted in recent years. I believe the city owns the building and land, and the collections are largely endowments which are not technically owned by the city, since they can't be sold unless voted upon by a majority of the Founder's Society board. At least that's my recollection.

**Gistok** · August-30-09, 12:16 AM

Sigh......... I just measured it... and Frederick Church's massive landscape masterpiece "Cotopaxi" won't fit into my living room!

**cman710** · August-30-09, 12:18 AM

Lorax, according to the 2008 Annual Report I linked to above, the city definitely owns the building and land. The DIA and city have an agreement by which the city "operates" the museum, and the DIA "manages" it. It could be that the collections have a special status even though the city has title to the art owned by the museum, as you mentioned, but I have not been able to find anything to that effect.

I am still not sure how bankruptcy would affect the whole situation [[and receivership would be far more likely than bankruptcy), but I am hoping to get a chance to do some research this week. If so, I will post any information I learn here.

LodgeDodger · August-30-09, 09:33 AM

Originally Posted by cman710

Lorax, according to the 2008 Annual Report I linked to above, the city definitely owns the building and land. The DIA and city have an agreement by which the city "operates" the museum, and the DIA "manages" it. It could be that the collections have a special status even though the city has title to the art owned by the museum, as you mentioned, but I have not been able to find anything to that effect.

I am still not sure how bankruptcy would affect the whole situation [[and receivership would be far more likely than bankruptcy), but I am hoping to get a chance to do some research this week. If so, I will post any information I learn here.

Please do.

Trainman · August-30-09, 09:50 AM

A three county property tax was proposed to save the DIA, just like the Zoo and the SMART bus system. Do you think this should have passed?

This vote failed but was close and many people would like to see this on the ballot again.

Lorax · August-30-09, 09:54 PM

Originally Posted by Trainman

A three county property tax was proposed to save the DIA, just like the Zoo and the SMART bus system. Do you think this should have passed?

This vote failed but was close and many people would like to see this on the ballot again.

Really a great idea- it's a good step toward regionalizing the bigger assets of the region. This is the key, I belive in Detroit ever resembling a liveable city again. Here's a list of what needs to be regionalized, blending the governments of the tri-county area into a single entity:

Police
Fire
Libraries
Museums
Parks
Auditoriums
Transportation
Tax collection
Permitting
Development/planning
Hospitals
Schools

Did I leave anything out?

**Danny** · August-31-09, 11:55 AM

YES! regionalize the DIA. It's the only way to save the Detroit's arts and humanities.

Retroit · August-31-09, 12:48 PM

Originally Posted by Lorax

Did I leave anything out?

Wealth and intelligence?

**jerrytimes** · December-29-11, 11:33 AM

Originally Posted by Retroit

Wealth and intelligence?

Common sense is another.

**JBMcB** · December-29-11, 11:48 AM

Originally Posted by Lorax

Did I leave anything out?

Water. It's already happening - a consortium of Macomb and Oakland counties took over control of the OMI after it was found to be in *extreme* disrepair [[it had already collapsed at 15 mile)

I think the main arteries and processing plants should be regionally owned and managed, with cities taking care of the "last mile" infrastructure.

**1953** · December-30-11, 04:41 PM

I previously worked at the DIA. The building and some of the collection is owned by the city. The collection is managed by the Founders Society, which also owns some of collection. Many pieces were donated with restrictions as to what can happen to them. The museum does not make a practice of selling pieces in its collection [[with some exceptions), because it is a member of the American Museum Association. If the city were to go into bankruptcy or receivership, I am pretty certain that the museum would be spun off entirely to the founder's soceity and no one else; the founder's soceity is almost entirely funded by sources outside of the city.

Coaccession · January-26-12, 06:34 PM

Originally Posted by 1953

I previously worked at the DIA. The building and some of the collection is owned by the city. The collection is managed by the Founders Society, which also owns some of collection. Many pieces were donated with restrictions as to what can happen to them. The museum does not make a practice of selling pieces in its collection [[with some exceptions), because it is a member of the American Museum Association. If the city were to go into bankruptcy or receivership, I am pretty certain that the museum would be spun off entirely to the founder's soceity and no one else; the founder's society is almost entirely funded by sources outside of the city.

It's worth emphasizing that AAM/AAMD rules would indeed likely spin off the museum to the Founders Society, as 1953 says, and that Founders Society funding does indeed come almost entirely from Bloomfield Hills and Gross Pointe. Nonetheless, AAM and AAMD are voluntary associations and their rules don't determine what happens to city-owned assets, so the collection won't go to the suburbs. What will likely happen is bankruptcy judge will start selling artworks and will keep selling artworks until all debts and obligations of the City of Detroit are fully paid up. If any of the 48 city unions hold out on Bing's negotiations, you could see the Van Goghs go in a van for delivery to the highest bidder.

Paying off the $20 billion in city debts and obligations -- all accelerated by bankruptcy -- would go through about a third or so of the DIA collection's financial value. That wouldn't be a pretty process, so here's hoping Detroit takes steps to avoid it. It's got the assets -- it just need the character to use them.

**rex** · January-02-12, 11:11 PM

Originally Posted by Trainman

A three county property tax was proposed to save the DIA, just like the Zoo and the SMART bus system. Do you think this should have passed?

This vote failed but was close and many people would like to see this on the ballot again.

Like how they sandwiched SMART in between the zoo and the DIA.

**Danny** · January-03-12, 09:27 AM

Thr DIA got some money from other private folks! They will stay open for a while. In the meantime the Detroit Science Center will remain closed for a long time.

Well! who needs science when we can see more Andy Warhol to Picasso's crayola pop art.

**1953** · January-03-12, 04:53 PM

I cannot give you a number regarding how much of the 60,000 piece collection is owned by the city and how much is controlled differently, but I know that, for some time, the museum has been accessioning works differently than it did in years past - I believe this protects a great deal of the recent acquisitions from receivership, though many of the most storied pieces would not be covered by this. Arguably, the city could balance its books against the value of that museum. However, this would be entirely unprecedented in the nation's history and, perhaps, in the history of art.