Museum Funding-Fundraising

That was the news out of the Detroit Institute of Arts’ press conference this morning: It has another $26.8 million in commitments from corporations pledged toward the $100 million it agreed to raise to buy its independence in the Detroit bankruptcy.

The new money in today’s announcement came from:

• $10 million from Roger S. Penske and Penske Corporation,
• $5 million from DTE Energy,
• $5 million from Quicken Loans and the Rock Ventures Family of Companies,
• $2.5 million from BCBSM,
• $1 million from Meijer,
• $1 million from Comerica Bank,
• $1 million from JPMorgan Chase,
• $800,000 from Consumers Energy and
• $500,000 from Delta Air Lines Foundation.

Just in case you can’t remember the grand bargain, here’s the boilerplate description from DIA’s press release:

The grand bargain will provide Detroit’s pensioners more than $800 million from local donors, local and national foundations and the State of Michigan over a 20-year period, subject to present value discounts for more rapid donor payments. The funds will be directed to a supporting organization of the Community Foundation for Southeast Michigan and then disbursed for city pension payments over the next 20 years. As part of the grand bargain, the City of Detroit will transfer ownership of the DIA’s collection, building and related assets to the private nonprofit corporation that currently operates the museum, Detroit Institute of Arts, Inc…

…The Grand Bargain was proposed by the mediators of city’s bankruptcy and led by Chief Judge Gerald Rosen of the U. S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan, and attorney Eugene Driker.

There will have to be more to come, of course, but this is a really good position for the DIA to be in.

Now we still await the announcement of the vote by affected parties in the bankruptcy for or against the plan.

 

Not too long ago, the Institute for Contemporary Art in Boston was a nomad, unable to raise money for a proper home, “striving to be marginal,” as the director Jill Medvedow used to say. Then, it raised $75 million, moved into a lovely new home on the waterfront, and hit its stride.

And now, the ICA has announced that since 2010, it has completed another fundraising campaign: it gathered $50 million for operations and to pad its endowment, which stands at $25 million, up from $9.6 million when the campaign started. That’s better, but still not big enough for ICA, imho. 

I asked the ICA where the other $35 million, as a guess, went (though some endowment gain likely came from the improving market). Here is the response:

• Building reserve:  $3 million
• Debt retirement:  $4.7 million
• Endowment: $19.2 million
• Operations: $23.3 million

“Operations” means that the money will go into the annual operating budgets over the next five years, a spokeswoman says.

More good news in the press release: “100% of the ICA’s Board of Trustees contributed to the campaign and the museum received 21 seven-figure gifts.”

Overall, the ICA said:

…This support allows the museum to continue its rigorous work of organizing exhibitions that are changing the field of scholarship such as Dance/Draw and the upcoming exhibition Fiber: Sculpture 1960 – Present and offering critical reviews of artists like William Kentridge, Amy Sillman, Nick Cave, and Mary Reid Kelly; commissioning new works by important choreographers like Bill T. Jones, Rashaun Mitchell, and Trajal Harrell; and developing a nationally recognized teen arts education program resulting in two honors from the White House.

All good, really — except that times are pretty good now, economically, especially for donors who can afford to contribute to art museums. I might have socked away more of the campaign proceeds into the endowment to provide more cushioning for operations in bad times. 

 

Today, the Save the Corcoran Coalition filed its complaint and petition in D.C. Superior Court, which must rule on the proposed deal between the Corcoran, the National Gallery of Art and George Washington University. STC  is asking to intervene in the Corcoran’s cy près proceedings. The petition asks the court to:

·      remove members of the current  Board of Trustees,

·      ensure that the entire Corcoran collection remain together,

·      require that the Board submit to a full financial accounting, and

·      deny cy près relief if the Board’s own maladministration has caused the Corcoran trust to become impracticable.

STC is right about one thing, for sure: trustees have never, to my knowledge, given a full financial accounting of the Corcoran’s situation. It always looked to me as if trustees sumply gave up, underestimating those who would oppose their plans. To quote from the press release:

“There are so many hard questions that need to be answered. We need to start there. If the Trustees want to dissolve a national, historic gem, we need to understand every wrong turn. We will never be able to get back our third oldest museum in the nation, and years of mismanagement is not a substantial explanation,” said Caroline Lacey, a Masters degree student currently enrolled at the Corcoran College of Art & Design, and a plaintiff on the suit.  “We as the students have made very serious time and monetary commitments to the Corcoran, and we deserve full accountability.”

STC’s attorney, Andrew Tulumello, Managing Partner at Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher, said:

“The Trustees have proposed the radical step of destroying the very institution they are charged with protecting.  This is not necessary, and it is wrong. The public interest demands a more thoughtful approach.”

I agree with most of that. Trouble is, I don’t see a real solution to this, and the current “deal” may be a better outcome than a return to an ever-struggling Corcoran.

Still, I want to know, as STC does, precisely what the situation is before deciding.

Here’s a link to the trustees’ filing, should you want to dig into the legal issues.

 

 

You’ll remember that the Corcoran’s struggles were “resolved” in May, when the National Gallery of Art and George Washington University split responsibilities for its future, subject to the approval of Superior Court of the District of Columbia.

That court is now seeking opinions of interested parties before making its determination. On Thursday, it issued a “Notice of Cy Pres Petition of the Corcoran Gallery of Art and College of Art and Design,” which said in part:

…the Trustees of the Corcoran Gallery of Art have filed a petition with the Superior Court of the District of Columbia seeking a determination of cy pres, to permit the Trustees to implement agreements reached with the National Gallery of Art and The George Washington University, concerning the assets and operations of the Corcoran Gallery of Art and the Corcoran College of Art + Design. … The Trustees have filed a motion seeking the entry of a proposed form of order, and the motion has been set for hearing on the afternoon of July 18, before the Honorable Robert Okun, Judge of the Superior Court.  Copies of the motion and supporting documents are available on the website of the Office of the Attorney General at http://oag.dc.gov/….

Any person wishing to provide information or views concerning the petition and the proposed order should send comments in writing to the Office of the Attorney General with a copy to counsel for the Trustees of the Corcoran Gallery of Art, at the addresses below.  Any comments should be received by noon on July 15.  The Office of the Attorney General and the Trustees will compile and file the comments received with the Court prior to the hearing on July 18.

Hat-tip for noticing this to Carolyn Campbell, President, Campbell Communications and former PR and Events Director of the Corcoran Gallery of Art, who posted it on Facebook. She also issued a plea: “…The public deserves to have more time to review the questionable facts presented in this case. Ask for a delay in the hearing. There should be no rush to judgment when it comes to the arts!! …”

She’s right.