Museum Funding-Fundraising

Detroit: Time To Put Artists On The Spot?

Supporters of the Detroit Institute of Arts have been celebrating for almost a week now–it was last Friday that the court ruled in favor of the Grand Bargain, which buys freedom for the DIA. But with a catch: the museum still has to raise more than $10 million to reach its $100 million mandated contribution to the deal. And then it must raise about $300 million over the next eight or so years for its endowment, to replace the money it is receiving from the millage tax–which ends after 10 years from its inception.

Plus, it always has to raise something on the order of $8 million a year for operations to balance the budget.

At this stage, every little bit helps. Last Saturday, according to the Detroit Free Press, the museum rejoiced in the fact its (accidentally) well-timed celebratory gala raised more than $1 million. That’s its largest annual fundraising event.

Which got me thinking. Michigan is wealthy, and there is still more money to tap there. But the support from national foundations, some–like the Getty–with no connection to Detroit, highlighted the fact that the DIA is more than a Detroit institution. With its fantastic collection, it’s a national treasure.

Wouldn’t a joint effort by artists and artists’ foundations be a headline-grabbing move that might inspire others beyond Michigan’s borders?

I found this list of the world’s 15 richest artists (I cannot verify it accuracy; in fact, I think it may be missing people like James Turrell)–their fortunes range from $1 billion (for Damian Hirst) to $20 million )for Georg Baselitz). It is true that the DIA’s contemporary art collectionÂ isn’t full of their works; it’s a universal museum. But,as I said, every little but helps now and the donor circle must widen.

Artists’ foundations may be even more helpful, if they wanted to be. In 2011, in The Art Newspaper,Â AndrÃ¡s SzÃ¡ntÃ³ called them “a sleeping giant of philanthropy.” There were, he said, about 300 at the time with $2.7 billion in assets.

I know that many artists are generous–frequently donating works of art for auction, for example, and to museums. Some are regular donors in other ways; Alex Katz, for example, gives artworks by contemporary artists to museums or money to buy such works, I’m told.

It seems to me that a joint gesture by artists and artists’ foundations, following the lead of the foundations in the Grand Bargain, would be an inspiration that could have a ripple effect, perhaps even to the collectors who this week have proven that they have plenty of capacity to help out a national treasure.

Detroit: Someone There Is Listening

Remember the political ruckus over the pay packages in the last years for Graham Beal, director of the Detroit Institute of Arts, and Annmarie Erickson, his deputy?

Local politicians threatened to repeal the millage tax, which is supporting operations at the DIA for the next ten years, because of it. Even though I thought that the pair probably deserved the raises and bonuses as disclosed,Â I agreed that the optics of them–at the particular time, with the Grand Bargain hanging in the balance–had to be fixed. And I recommended a way out:

Way back when, you may remember, some rich board members of the Museum of Modern Art supplemented Glenn Lowryâ€™s salary with their own funds. Mike Bloomberg did the same for some members of his mayoral staff. Perhaps that is what can happen here.

Now, it seems, the DIA board has listened to the complaints and changed the optics, at least somewhat.Â According to theÂ Detroit News:

Directors of the Detroit Institute of Arts on Tuesday repaid the museum $90,000 as reimbursement for bonuses awarded to three top executives in 2013, according to a memo sent to suburban authorities this week and obtained by The Detroit News.

Apologizing for making “mistakes which we regret,” but emphasizing there was “no wrongdoing of any kind,” board chairman Eugene Gargaro wrote that the DIA directors were contributing the money to end a very unfortunate situation.

Oakland County Executive L. Brooks Patterson (pictured), who’d criticized the pay packages, was assuaged. The News said he felt the board had learned a lesson and was satisfied that “this mischief won’t continue.”

Earlier this week, the DIA reported that 21 local Japanese businesses, all members of the Japan Business Society of Detroit, had pledged nearly $2.2 million to the DIA, about $1.6 million of which will go to the $100 million the museum must raise for the Grand Bargain. The rest will go to reinstalling the Japanese collection in a new gallery. Details here.

That takes the DIA’s fundraising total to about $87 million for this effort.

Detroit Institute Addresses Compensation Complaints

A short time ago, the Detroit Institute of Arts responded to the criticism that has kept it in the news for the wrong reasons this week–and threatened to undermine support for the millage tax that provides $23 million on operating support each year. Board chair Edward Gargaro signed the statement, which said that “unfortunately misunderstandings have occurred.” Indeed.

In a key paragraph, Gargaro promised to discuss the matter the public officials threatened to repeal the millage:

We will continue to provide our community with exceptional museum programs and will do so in a way that is responsible, transparent and reflects proudly on the history of this great institution. Representatives of the DIA Board of Directors will meet in the near future to consider the best means to work with elected officials in Macomb, Oakland and Wayne Counties to ensure that there is full transparency on compensation decisions. We will continue to steward our resources, which to a significant extent have been entrusted to us by citizens of the tri-county area, in a very careful, responsible manner that recognizes both the exceptional quality of the museum and the exceptional leadership of those who are directing its course, and we appreciate the continued support of all of the citizens of the tri-county area.

The statement runs through all the numbers, and adds a critical fact–that Annmarie Erickson (at right) was promoted at one point, but did not receive compensation for that until much later, retrospectively. Consequently, she did receive a 36% pay increase.

When the contract was finalized, Ms. Erickson received her salary increase at that time retroactive to the date of her assumption of her new duties, and in 2012 she received a 2011 performance bonus as well. The 36% pay increase which has been reported so prominently in the press resulted from this â€œbunchingâ€ of compensation related to 2011 into 2012. Had the compensation been paid in 2011 when it was earned, the increase in compensation from 2011 to 2012 would have been 4% not 36%.

This is all critical information to voters and residents. As I said earlier, Beal and Erickson probably deserved their raises–but optics are important. Good that they are being addressed. especially now that the last piece of the Grand Bargain puzzle is falling into place.

Mistake at DIA: A Pay-Raise Ruckus And A Solution

In the last two years or so, I’ve often praised the Detroit Institute of Arts for conducting itself in the right way–with respect to passing the millage and in how it has handled itself during the city’s bankruptcy. Now, though, it has made a major mistake–in terms of optics if not substance.

And it may cost the museum big, in terms of local support. Some local legislators are threatening to take action.

According to several reports, the board handed out big raises to the top two execs in 2012:Â Director Graham Beal received a 13% raise in total compensation to $514,000, including a $50,000 bonus, and COO Annmarie Erickson saw her pay rise 36% to $369,000, including the same bonus.

Both undoubtedly worked hard: 2012 was the year they campaigned hard to persuade voters in three Detroit counties to tax themselves a tiny bit, aboutÂ $15 a year on every $150,000 of a home’s fair-market value, for 10 years and hand over what would amount to $23 million a year to the DIA for operations. In return, residents received free admission to the permanent collection galleries. As I wrote then, in an article for The Wall Street Journal,

In recent months Graham Beal has been working all but nonstop, speaking at community breakfasts and Rotary Club lunches, appearing at city council meetings, county hearings and fund-raising events, doing media interviews, conferring with political strategists. “I have not yet kissed any babies,” he says, with a slight chuckle that turns into a sigh.

So did he and Erickson deserve a raise? Probably–at least the bonus.

Detroit didn’t declare bankruptcy until July, 2013, but the Â DIA board must have seen a crisis coming in some manifestation. Now, when pensioners and Detroit’s creditors are all taking haircuts, the action of trustees, no matter how well-meaning, looks off-key and out of line.

As the Detroit News reported:

Oakland County Commissioner Dave Woodward, D-Royal Oak, said he spoke Friday with Gene Gargaro (pictured), chair of the DIA compensation committee, and asked him to either have the money returned or put measures in place to ensure this does not happen again.

If nothing happens, Woodward said, he would take steps to dissolve the Oakland County Arts Authority that collects the voter approved $11 million annually for the DIA.

â€œThe DIA must act now to acknowledge the mistake, apologize and fix it,â€ Woodward said. â€œOtherwise, Iâ€™m prepared to do whatever it takes to see that no further Oakland County monies go to it.â€

Asked for comment Monday, Gargaro confirmed he spoke with Woodward on Friday and told The News: â€œI need time to consider what Dave and I discussed … when I have something meaningful, I will share it with you.â€

Another lawmaker, Eileen Kowall, also said she’s talking to the DIA board of directors in hopes that they will reconsider.

Kowall, the Detroit Free Press reported, “…said she has gone to bat for the museum in the past, supporting legislation to ensure money from the millage goes to the DIA and not other uses. “I felt kind of blindsided I guess,’ she said. ‘I felt a little bit like a chump.’ ”

Optics matter in cases like this. It’s going to be sticky no matter what happens, but I think the DIA board should reconsider–and either make its case publicly or find another solution.

Way back when, you may remember, some rich board members of the Museum of Modern Art supplemented Glenn Lowry’s salary with their own funds. Mike Bloomberg did the same for some members of his mayoral staff. Perhaps that is what can happen here.

Albright-Knox: Making The Case For Expansion

More than one museum has gotten into big trouble by expanding. But I’d bet the Albright-Knox Art Gallery in Buffalo has a better case than most of them. And last week, the museum said it plans to go ahead with a major expansion.

A little background first: I met Janne Siren, who was hired to replace Louis Grachos as the gallery’s director in January, 2013, on a visit he made to New York last week. I had last visited the museum about three years ago–though I wish I had not missed several of its recent exhibitions. And that streak seems to be continuing. Today was the last day for what looked like an excellent Anselm Kiefer exhibit, and I would very much like to get to Buffalo to see the coming Helen Frankenthaler show, which opens on Nov. 9Â (Siren also showed me slides from the contemporaneous Paul Feeley retrospective, whose work I had not been familiar with).

So after a while in the doldrums, the AKG seems to have its exhibition program in gear. (Siren also showed me some recent acquisitions–have a look.)

But Siren reminded me how little of the AKG’s permanent collection is on view–and of the difficulties caused by the building’s design. The AKAG, Siren told me, is the sixth-oldest art museum in the United States. It predates the Met. Having started during the Civil War–and still officially known asÂ Buffalo Fine Arts Academy–it has always focused on contemporary art and is renowned for the paintings acquired by A. Conger Goodyear, an early director, andÂ Seymour H. Knox, Jr., a benefactor responsible for the AKAG’s renowned collection of Modern art (Leger’s Walking Flower and Jackson Pollock’s Convergence, both shown here, came from Knox.

Siren told me that only about 2% to 3% of the museum’s permanent collection, which consists ofÂ about 6,740 works of art, can be shown at any one time in its 19,000 sq. fett of exhibition space. At the museum’s annual meeting, last week, where the AKAG said it was going forward with an expansion, the Academy’s chair, Thomas R. Hyde, said, â€œCampus development is no longer an option; it is a necessity. We are, in many ways, a middleweight museum with a heavyweight collection,â€ according toÂ The Buffalo News.Â

Siren reminded me of another problem: when the AKAG was last expanded, in 1962, it mainly built an auditorium. The long halls around it are used to show art, but they are not idea. Furthermore, many contemporary art works today don’t fit through the museum’s doors.

Here is the museum’s full statement on the expansion.

Back in 2012, under Grachos, the Albright-Knox had hired Snohetta to develop a master plan for growth.

But the question is money. The AKAG made not insubstantial cutbacks during the 2008-09 recession. The Buffalo unemployment rate is a little less than the national average, but average wages are also lower. The city is said to be experiencing something of an economic rival, but as the News said last January, “In a region that has heard more than its share of grand plans over the past quarter century that ended up going nowhere â€“ from a factory outlet mega-mall in Niagara Falls to Bass Pro and the Pataki administrationâ€™s plan to create a bioinformatics hub here â€“ seeing is believing.”

That article went on to say that there is now an economic plan, with state investment funds behind it, and “challenges aside, the change is astounding by Buffalo standards, where for the past 60 years, economic growth has pretty much been something that happens someplace else.”

I really hope that message has affected potential donors, inspiring them to open their wallets. If real money is in place, the AKAG collection really does deserve more space.

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