How desperate can a city facing
financial armageddon get? What’s the last resort for cities such as Detroit,
wounded first by the failing American auto industry and then set bleeding like
every other American city after the 2008 financial crash? Detroit
emergency manager Kevyn Orr raised the possibility of selling the collection
of the Detroit Institute of Arts, worth about
$15 billion, to help pay off some of the city’s debt. Setting aside the
complicated issue of whether a city even has the legal right to sell its museum’s
collection like any other movable asset, does a city have the moral right to
sell works of art? What would the long-term effect of making such a short-term
decision? If dying Detroit murders its museum, will it lose its soul, and the
soul of its people? Please come over to Picture This at Big Think to read more of "Is Dying Detroit Trying to Murder its Museum?"
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You wrote that The DIA is unusual among major civic museums in that the city retains ownership of the building and collection. Daily operations, including fund-raising, are overseen by a nonprofit institution.
Unusual in the USA but de rigueur almost everywhere else. Only by retaining collections as a public trust can communities ensure honesty and accountability. Private owners can do what they like, regardless of community values.
Detroit would be insane destroying this important community asset.
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