DIA announces $26M commitment from Detroit automakers
The Detroit Institute of Arts announced Monday a $26 million commitment from Detroit automakers toward the museum’s $100 million share of a fund to aid city workers’ pensions as part of the “grand bargain.”General Motors Co. and Ford Motor Co., through their charitable foundations, will make contributions of $10 million each toward the effort to protect the DIA art collection in Detroit's bankruptcy and Chrysler Group LLC has committed $6 million.
The DIA made the announcement from the Woodward Avenue museum's famous Rivera Court regarding its role in the so-called “grand bargain” that calls for $466 million in private funding and $195 in state tax dollars to limit pension cuts for 32,000 past and present Detroit workers.
“People have a lot of confidence that Detroit can be back on a scale that we’d all be proud to be,” DIA Board Chairman Eugene A. Gargaro Jr. said following the news conference, adding the state and city leadership has helped the city turn a corner. “People are feeling better about investing in a place like this.”
Gargaro added the DIA has already secured $70 million of its $100 million commitment.
Beyond the automakers, DIA officials plan to disclose the additional donors in the coming weeks, he said. “Those are individuals, other foundations and corporations that have yet to say to us ‘please share this good news publicly,’” Gargaro said. “We are not authorized by those donors yet to do that.” The museum, he said, has “a ways to go” to meet its remaining goal, but it’s already coming together. “That’s my expectation, not my hope,” Gargaro said. “I’m certain that’s going to happen. I’ve already had those calls.”
Gov. Rick Snyder said the deal contributes to a "fragile comeback" for the city. "Our work is not done yet," he said. "We need to follow though. This is a historic step today in making that fragile comeback to reality. Let's build on that."
Reid Bigland, head of U.S Sales for Chrysler Group LLC, said in announcing the company’s contribution that “it's no secret that the city of Detroit has fallen on some difficult times.”
Chrysler’s commitment is “intended to preserve the cultural identity and heritage on display here at the Detroit Institute of Arts,” he said. “It is also intended to preserve pensions of the many hardworking men and women who have served Detroit. Most importantly, to get the Motor City back on its feet.”
The announcement is also expected to kick off the museum’s fund-raising drive in an effort to get other big Michigan corporations to contribute to the cause.
