Charles Wright Operates on 6 Million Per Year. Asking Taxpayers for 4 times More!

[Gistok]

^ Nice. I have a friend that adores the period. He'd love this!

If you go to Youtube and search "Luxor Avenue of Sphinxes", they have several videos of the entire 3 1/2 hour spectacular. Last year they did a similar lavish event when the moved the mummies of 18 Pharaonic Kings and 4 Queens from the Cairo Museum to the new [[not yet open) Great Egyptian Museum... the billion dollar massive complex just a mile north of the Giza Pyramids.

What amazed me was Pharaoh Hatshepsut [[the first great powerful woman in history)... her Mortuary Temple, with the ramps... has been fully restored after 70 years of work by Polish archeologists who started with a totally ruined temple, and put the piece all back together at a painstakingly slow process.

[Gistok]

Since there must have been some religious aspects to the parade, it is worth noting that Islam in Egypt must be more tolerant than Islam in Mali or Afghanistan where religious images were desecrated. Maybe its for the tourist dollars but the monuments and this ceremony were a gift to the world.

Interestingly enough Egypt's President Sisi [[who is in the longer video with his wife) has done a lot to improve Egypt since he took over in a coup in 2011. Under the elected Muslim Brotherhool government prior to the coup, Coptic Christians, who make up 10% of the Egyptian people, were being persecuted and their churches destroyed. Sisi has stopped their persecution, and prevented the exodus of them from Egypt. He has had an iron hand in running Egypt... but as we saw with Iraq since the US took over by deposing Sadaam Hussein... sometimes some of the restive Islamic countries need an iron hand, else chaos reigns among different problematic factions.

Sisi has done a LOT to promote the restoration of many ancient Egyptian monuments, including restoring the ancient capitol [[Thebes then, called Luxor today) Avenue of Sphinxes... by removing over 100 residential buildings, 5 mosques and a church to restore the 3500 year old royal processional avenue... that was mainly found under the buildings... and is still working on restoring many of the 1070 Sphinx statues found in pieces in the sand.

President Sisi has become a friend of the Egyptian Coptic Church, and provides them protection. He is also building a new government capitol about 40 miles east of crowded [20 million people] Cairo.

He is also working very hard to bring back the throngs of tourists that make up a big chunk of Egypt's economy, since they left during the upheavals of the decade before Sisi took power in 2011. He is using his power to keep Egypt as secular as possible... especially when it comes to promoting Pharaonic Egypt.

I'm no fan of dictators, but there are many far worse than Sisi.

[Jimaz]

Here's a funny parody of the whole Howard Carter discovery: Motel Of The Mysteries

[JBMcB]

I'm no fan of dictators, but there are many far worse than Sisi.

Fun fact [[heard about it on Planet Money) The main reason Egypt is relatively moderate as far as middle eastern countries go, is that it's military pensions are invested heavily in resorts in Sharm El-Sheikh. That is, if you are one of the higher ups in the military, and expect to retire with a nice, comfy pension, you need to keep tourism flowing into the country. So, no massacres, no brutal repression, no crazy clampdowns - that all hurts tourism.

When the Muslim Brotherhood took over and started in with the clampdowns, sectarian violence, and persecutions of religious minorities, the army kicked them out right quick.

[swingline]

My wife and I went to see Ron Paul speak in Mason City, Iowa in 2008. Unfortunately, I had written the wrong date on my calendar so we had an unplanned mini vacation in Mason City made famous for Music Man. It was one of those wrong turns that brought us into a delightful Midwestern twilight zone. It seemed like much of the town was out socializing at big park with multiple softball games having BBQ picnics. It was Midwest with a capital M. The next morning we went to the free MacNider Art Museum where we discovered an unexpected collection of Grant Wood and some Thomas Hart Benton works. The quality and pleasantness of the museum was unexpected [[and free). I have no idea how it was financed and maintained. I recommend it as a stop for anyone driving through there. Perhaps, the Charles Wright Museum could borrow a few ideas from Mason City to better serve its own patrons and community.

Not sure that the DHM or the Wright Museum will get any creative funding ideas from the "free" MacNider Art Museum. The MacNider derives over 65% of its operating budget from taxes paid by Mason City taxpayers. The City of Detroit contributes a fraction of this amount to these two cultural institutions.

[Kathleen]

I was surprised to see that this was coming to the Wright Museum, and not the DIA... until this little tidbit....

"The Public Pharaoh, and The Royal Burial - this installation features more than 120 replicas of Pharaoh Tut’s sacred and personal possessions."

Hmmmm... "replicas"...

JFYI...this very exhibition was previously at the Wright in 2009.

Confirmed in this catalog which is heavily illustrated and might be of interest to those interested in Egyptiana:
https://cdn.websites.hibu.com/8c5d6d...%20Catalog.pdf

As I recall, we found the exhibit quite interesting!

[gnome]

I was under the impression that we were better than they were... but then I've never been to Cleveland's Art Institute. But I do know they have a larger endowment.

Mrs. Gnome and I ventured to Cleveland last fall for some French sketches or paintings or something. I’m embarrassed to admit I can’t remember why we had to go but will also admit the facility has the DIA beat all to hell.

The cultural neighborhood would be a whole separate discussion but imagine a cultural center nestled into a combined area Grosse Pointe and Hines Drive. Swirl in curvy roads, toney neighbors… tres swanky.

Museum itself is comprised of four or five buildings all connected by a translucent roof. One result is they have a courtyard that is not quite as large as a football field, but pretty close.

The feeling is very inside/outside and time travelly. You
have these grand edifices festooned with granite pillars, pediments and lintels which are right out of the 1900 playbook for classy joints; then you have these other structures that rub your nose in a steel and glass minimalist bauhaus vibe. Then connect all these different buildings under an expansive 60 foot tall roof. Picture a roof covering Campus Martius. Sort of.

I got the impression they used this covered “town square” for fancy gatherings of swells, but I didn’t see such a thing I just saw the remnants of portable bars, coat check stations, food carts, etc.

We spent a longish day there and felt we were on roller skates the whole time. Too rushed to appreciate what we were looking at. You could spend a week - easy - and still miss stuff.

I went to Cleveland with the swagger of knowing our DIA is pretty kick-ass; I left knowing we ain’t quite a backwater but we have a long way to go to be half as good.

[Kathleen]

Hate to disagree with your Cleveland vs Detroit art museum assessment, Gnome, but I do.

We've been to Cleveland Museum of Art several times in the last 5 years...to see their Monet Water Lilies and other Impressionist works...to see their Tiffany Collection...to see the Georgia O'Keeffe: Modern Living exhibition that they hosted. We also have spent time in their galleries enjoying their vast collection of paintings, sculpture, armor, glass, and more. And totally enjoyed seeing it all. You're right that you can't see it all in one visit. Even after 3 or 4 visits, I'm sure there are galleries we have yet to see.

Yes, the covered "town square" is quite large, and we have seen them setting up for a private event scheduled for after hours that afternoon.

We walked around the Cleveland museum building to see the public art, including their Rodin Thinker that was bombed in 1970 and the Fine Arts Garden, and to note the different architectural styles of the additions built through the years.

We've also walked around the neighborhood that is analogous to Detroit's Cultural Center, with Case Western Reserve adjacent and several museums, including the Cleveland History Center and the Museum of Contemporary Art, as well as the Cleveland Botanical Garden within walking distance.

We've had some great experiences at the Cleveland Museum of Art for sure....as we have had when visiting art museums big and small in many cities smaller and bigger than Detroit. I have never walked out of any museum thinking that the Detroit Institute of Art is less than fabulous or that its art collection is not awesome in its own right!!

[oladub]

Not sure that the DHM or the Wright Museum will get any creative funding ideas from the "free" MacNider Art Museum. The MacNider derives over 65% of its operating budget from taxes paid by Mason City taxpayers. The City of Detroit contributes a fraction of this amount to these two cultural institutions.

The Mason City museum was blessed with a free building given by a local family for use as an art museum and at least one of it major collections was a gift. That would be hard to duplicate. However, soliciting art works and collections as partial alternative to going after as much cash might, in the long run, enhance the Wright Museum's visitors' experience and improve business. Putting museums into wills also appeals to some people.

The Mason City museum is not just a museum. It is also a platform offering educational opportunities including lecture series. Therein lies another possibility for funding from other sources or charging for adult courses.

[Lowell]

I went to Cleveland with the swagger of knowing our DIA is pretty kick-ass; I left knowing we ain’t quite a backwater but we have a long way to go to be half as good.

I have to agree with Kathleen. Half as good is nowhere near accurate but Cleveland does have a superior collection. I went there with your swagger too. After all this was "The Mistake on the Lake" and "Cleveland was a little like Detroit, but without the Glitter" and I walked away with a different point of view. It is a fabulous collection and facility, as is the surrounding cultural campus.

In US museum rankings Cleveland comes in No. 3, after The Metropolitan Museum of Art in NY and the Chicago Art Institute. Detroit gets in around 5-7. None have Rivera murals as we do and our Dutch Golden age and American collections are heavyweight contenders. But this is like an argument at a beauty pageant--they're all gorgeous.

Mrs. Lowell and I stayed at a BnB in adjacent charming "Little Italy", think old school Greektown set in a pinch of Hamtramck, but Italian.

[Henry Whalley]

Cleveland has a great orchestra, too.

[gnome]

Kathleen, Lowell, et. al.

Allow me to clarify. The charming and lovely Mrs. Gnome and I only saw one exhibit. I cannot speak to their art collection vs our art collection.

I was speaking solely about their campus or Town Square and neighborhood.

To get to the DIA you travel on our charming freeways and glorious surface streets.

To get to the Cleveland museum you travel on curvy and hilly forested path and cross over and under arched stone bridges.

in Detroit you park in an asphalt lake, in Cleveland you park in a forested glen.

Finally all the buildings are grouped together and covered by a roof allowing one to easily stroll from one to another. In our town, it is a slightly different story.

So, to clarify, I was not running down our collection of art and artifacts; I was comparing their physical plant vs ours.

Now, with that clarified, I wonder if Daniel Burnham’s City Beautiful movement had anything to do with how their town compares to ours.

For all practical purposes, Augustus Woodward was the last guy that had a solid plan that was followed, for a short time anyways. Maybe bob Oakman with his self-titled Land grab. Pingree’s Grand Bvld?

We have had planning by steam shovel here.

[Kathleen]

Thanks, Gnome, for your clarification.

What you see on your way to the Cleveland Museum of Art does depends on what direction you're coming from and where your GPS takes you! Yes, coming in from the East or North takes you through a beautiful parkway or nice neighborhoods, but from the West or South, not so much.

The location of the Cleveland Museum of Art is due to the generosity of Mr. Jeptha Wade who had created a large natural woodland on his estate and then donated 63 acres to the city. It was a public park for many years before the city utilized the land for several of its cultural institutions.
https://case.edu/ech/articles/w/wade-park

Detroit was not so lucky...although the story of Mr. Wade makes me wonder what it might have been like to have had the DIA built in a space like Palmer Park!! Our city forefathers did envision a cultural center and got the DIA and DPL built across from one another; they lost Orchestra Hall from that plan. Now we can look to the current Cultural Center Planning Initiative to revitalize the area in a more cohesive fashion: https://www.midtownculturalconnections.com/

The Cleveland Museum of Art's original Beaux Arts building was built in the mid-1910s. The Detroit Institute of Art's Beaux Arts building was built in the mid-1920s. Both museums have additions: Cleveland has three built in 1958, 1971 designed by Marcel Breuer, and 1983; Detroit's addition of wings was built in the 1960s. Cleveland's 1916 and 1971 buildings have been renovated and modernized while the 1958 and 1983 buildings were demolished, replaced with the new Atrium or "Town Square" space, designed by Viñoly, that opened in 2013. Detroit's museum was renovated in the mid-2000s. In my estimation, they are comparable museum spaces. And I think I like our Kresge Court, Great Hall, and Rivera Court gathering spaces better than CMA's huge football-field Atrium that seems under-utilized on a daily basis.

Enough said! But I will continue to urge my friends to visit the DIA, to take advantage of the free general admission [[if you live in the Tri-County area) and pop in just to see a gallery or two and then go back to see more another time and beyond. And if you are ever in Cleveland, check out the CMA. Free general admission.

[gnome]

For everyone playing along at home, Kathleen will beat you with logic and facts everyday of the month. Those Gale Gals ain’t to be trifled with. No ma’am, er… ah, I mean yes ma’am.

[Lowell]

Gnome, you're right in that Cleveland's grassy sylvan campus is outstanding, but we're trying to catch up!

[Detroit Stylin]

Using a somewhat similar approach to the DIA, the Charles Wright Museum of African American History and the Detroit Historical Museum are planning to ask Oakland and Wayne County residents to pass a new millage supporting their operations. On the face of it that would seem somewhat reasonable, but the numbers make even less sense than they did for the DIA.

According to the financial disclosures on their website the Wright museum currently operates on an annual budget of just over 6 million dollars [[Some of which is already derived from taxpayer dollars). According to the Freep article the museum is asking for 25 million annually, and for 20 years! And since it's a millage that's not a fixed amount, but will likely increase as property values go up.

The false pleas of financial hardship, election trickery and after the fact bonuses to those that oversaw the DIA millage were bad enough, but the Wright asking for such an insane amount is downright offensive! Especially in a city where so many are struggling to pay property taxes that are already among the highest in the state.



https://www.freep.com/story/news/loc...ax/6529539001/

Are you keeping that same energy for the DIA, the Science Center and other cultural institutions in the Tri County area or just THIS particular one? I cannot for the life of me place my finger on what makes this one different.....

[Kathleen]

For everyone playing along at home, Kathleen will beat you with logic and facts everyday of the month. Those Gale Gals ain’t to be trifled with. No ma’am, er… ah, I mean yes ma’am.

Awwww, Gnome!! I'm such an art museum enthusiast...OK, nerd...that I do my research before every visit to make sure I don't miss anything. Most of the museums we visit while on the road are too big to take it all in a single visit, which are often limited to 3-4 hours at most. It's not enough for me to just see the works of art in the building. I also want to know about the museum and how it came to be as well as the building and who designed it and its additions. And the works of art that are installed on the museum campus too! It makes our visit all the more interesting!!

[DetBill]

Awwww, Gnome!! I'm such an art museum enthusiast...OK, nerd...that I do my research before every visit to make sure I don't miss anything. Most of the museums we visit while on the road are too big to take it all in a single visit, which are often limited to 3-4 hours at most. It's not enough for me to just see the works of art in the building. I also want to know about the museum and how it came to be as well as the building and who designed it and its additions. And the works of art that are installed on the museum campus too! It makes our visit all the more interesting!!

I must admit, my spouse and I have been reading this thread and comments with great interest..My spouse is from Cleveland, and was involved with the CMA for numerous years, and has a very good familiarity with it, it’s buildings, collections and location, living in the University Circle area , I was able to inherit much of that knowledge in recent years..We both are members of the DIA and equally familiar with it. We are lucky to still have residences in both towns and go back and forth..We both conclude that neither has the edge on the other, while Cleveland’s “ look” dramatically changed with its major renovation and its sweeping glass bow atrium by Uruguayan Architect Rafael Vinoly, the DIA seemed to stay more inline with its existing design. They are both wonderful museums in both collections and design. CMA displays 45,000 art pieces, DIA ,65,000. We agree with Kathleens’ comment that the huge glass atrium, which is wonderful, often seems vacant and not used well, they do hold many social events and benefits in it though, and it’s a great venue for it, day or night, we went to a evening Christmas benefit there, was very impressive , a beautifully decorated area as you enter. The spouse consistently says that the DIAs’ concept of bringing curiosity and education to its attendees is brilliant with its Eye Spy areas [ which seem to have been taken away during COVID). The Cleveland area , called University Circle [[being next to Case Western Reserve), is in a beautiful area, with many museums integrated, and beautiful park and fountains areas behind the CMA. This used to be the front entrance , but it’s ever expanding, and parades [[ Parade the Circle ) held there are great. The only issue is it is on the East Side of the city proper near Little Italy, Cleveland Heights [[great areas ) and East side Cleveland [[needs help ) .The DIA is much more centralized to the city with its Midtown Location. We think both cities should be equally proud and personally have a difficult time preferring one to the other.
Trip Savy rated both in the top 10 in the U.S. in 2019
https://www.tripsavvy.com/top-art-mu...states-3301103

my apologies, my open bracket on my keyboard appears to be shift frozen !

[Dumpling]

Nice post, thanks for the thoughtful comparisons!

[The bracket thing is a new DetroitYes
compiler quirk, not your computer.]

[DetBill]

Cleveland has a great orchestra, too.

Yes Cleveland Orchestra is always rated near the top, and where they perform in Severance Hall, as it says when you walk in,” One of the Worlds Great Symphony Halls “ an absolute beauty, with its Silverleaf throughout. However, once again , the Detroit Symphony is no backseat player either, it doesn’t seem to have the sheen that it had in prior decades, The strike more than several years ago really kicked it badly unfortunately, but it has rebounded quite nicely, it is still very highly respected, and Orchestra Hall here in Detroit is a beauty, being acoustically perfect and also recognized as such world wide.

[Gistok]

Yes Cleveland's Severance Hall is a magnificent symphonic hall. It was built 1929-31 [at the beginning of the depression]. It was during that era that classic styles of old movie palaces and performance venues started the switch to Art Deco. But it was built at the early phase of that era, where both classic and Art Deco details equally shared the spotlight. There is a fusion of classical Versailles, Ancient Egyptian, and Art Deco all blended together.

Both Orchestra Hall and Severance Hall have 2000 seats. Orchestra Hall always had great acoustics. With Severance Hall acoustics were a problem from the very begining [1931], and it took several auditorium/stagehouse remodelings to get it right, but about 20 years ago they finally got it perfect.

[Henry Whalley]

...Orchestra Hall always had great acoustics. With Severance Hall acoustics were a problem from the very begining [1931], and it took several auditorium/stagehouse remodelings to get it right, but about 20 years ago they finally got it perfect.

Interesting! They never got the acoustics right in Ford Auditorium. But I always liked the modernism of its design, and was unhappy when the city demolished it.

P.S. During the years when Orchestra Hall was unusable, the DSO recorded at Cass Tech which also had good acoustics.

[Kathleen]

Yes Cleveland's Severance Hall is a magnificent symphonic hall. It was built 1929-31 [at the beginning of the depression]. It was during that era that classic styles of old movie palaces and performance venues started the switch to Art Deco. But it was built at the early phase of that era, where both classic and Art Deco details equally shared the spotlight. There is a fusion of classical Versailles, Ancient Egyptian, and Art Deco all blended together.

Both Orchestra Hall and Severance Hall have 2000 seats. Orchestra Hall always had great acoustics. With Severance Hall acoustics were a problem from the very begining [1931], and it took several auditorium/stagehouse remodelings to get it right, but about 20 years ago they finally got it perfect.

Gistok: Thanks for sharing the Severance Hall photo. We've never been there, although we've driven by and photographed the building. It's beautiful. Now I want to see the interior!! Maybe we can take a tour in a year or two!! Of course, would love to hear the Cleveland Symphony but often our time in Cleveland is either ahead of one of The Grillmaster's gigs or we're passing through while on vacation.

[Johnnny5]

Are you keeping that same energy for the DIA, the Science Center and other cultural institutions in the Tri County area or just THIS particular one? I cannot for the life of me place my finger on what makes this one different.....

I specifically mentioned the DIA and the Historical Museum in my initial post, and throughout this thread so that should be readily apparent. [[As far as I know the Science Center is not considering requesting more support via millage).

The reason I specifically called out the Wright in the title was the immense amount of tax dollars they are requesting as compared to their annual expenses and unlike the Historical Museum they're not currently struggling to pay their bills [[Plus you can only fit so many words in a title on this forum). If you've read my other posts in this thread you'll see where I actually vowed conditional support for a millage supporting BOTH the Wright and the Historical Museum, so your attempt to paint this as a racial issue is far off base. Not to mention Gnome already tried that angle along with some racial epithets to go a long with it, hence the reason I have not posted here since [[Thanks to the mods for actually deleting them).