Black fascist corporate agents David Bing, Kevyn Orr and their white overseer Rick Snyder. The banks are enslaving Detroit to seize public assets and pension funds to gamble away on Wall Street., a photo by Pan-African News Wire File Photos on Flickr.
August 14, 2013 at 12:20 pm
DIA says it would sue to protect art from sell-off in Detroit bankruptcy
Michael H. Hodges and Chad Livengood
The Detroit News
Detroit— The director of the Detroit Institute of Arts vowed Tuesday the museum will take legal action to block any potential sale of its masterworks to satisfy creditors as part of Detroit’s historic bankruptcy filing.
Asked whether he would sue in the event of a move to take the museum’s art, Graham Beal said, “Absolutely.”
He warned that such litigation could take years: “There’s no precedent for this. It all depends on the (bankruptcy judge’s) rulings.”
Beal’s statement comes as support mounted locally and nationally to safeguard Detroit’s vaunted art collection, including a move by Oakland County to protect the sanctity of its DIA tax and an online show of solidarity expected today by art collectors across the country.
The concern comes in response to Emergency Manager Kevyn Orr’s announcement last week that the city will pay Christie’s Appraisals, the New York-based international auction house, $200,000 to price the museum’s treasures.
Beal said two top representatives from the firm will meet with him later this week, presumably to plan for visits by assessors. He declined to say when the Christie’s agents are coming.
The museum several months ago hired an attorney to help develop strategies to protect its collection.
Meanwhile, art bloggers nationwide announced that participants in today’s “Day for Detroit” solidarity effort will devote postings to spotlighting the museum’s collection and current plight, and why it should matter to a nationwide audience.
Orr and Gov. Rick Snyder have repeatedly said the DIA’s art is not for sale, but have not ruled out an auction of the assets as part of an overall plan to pare down debt and restructure the city’s finances.
Some bankruptcy experts have speculated creditors could try to seize the annual millage payouts for the DIA and Detroit Zoo.
Tyler Green, who organized the “Day for Detroit” effort and blogs Modern Art Notes online, said the postings will consist of images of the DIA’s greatest masterpieces.
Green said 15 to 20 websites, critics and bloggers have agreed to publish works from the DIA’s collection today to call attention to what would be lost if the bankruptcy court were able to force a sale of Detroit’s art. Among the participating websites are Art F City, Hyperallergic LABS, Two Coats of Paint and Bad at Sports, he said.
“There’s a very small chance that any of Detroit’s art would end up in other art museums,” Green added. “They just don’t have the resources. This stuff would go into the luxury goods market.”
In addition to the bloggers, online digital magazine Cultural Weekly plans to publish an all-Detroit edition on Thursday, publisher Adam Leipzig announced Tuesday. Leipzig is a film producer and former Disney Co. executive.
Millage may be cut off
Concern over the vulnerability of the DIA’s collection also is growing in Oakland County, where officials Tuesday took the first steps to cut off millage funding for the museum if its art collection is diminished in any way.
The Oakland County Art Institute Authority has scheduled a meeting Tuesday to consider a resolution that would suspend collection of the 0.2-mill property tax if Detroit sells off any of the DIA’s art or allows creditors to seize the tax revenue to satisfy debts.
“We bought in, in good faith, that this would be a record-breaking contribution of regional cooperation that was supposed to secure the art institute’s future, and it can’t be some cookie jar to pay the bad debts of the city of Detroit,” said Thomas Guastello, chairman of the Oakland County Arts Institute Authority.
“It’s just not what anyone had in mind and it’s not permitted in the contract.”
Oakland County Executive L. Brooks Patterson said the resolution is a pre-emptive strike against Detroit and its creditors as the city prepares efforts to persuade bankruptcy Judge Steven Rhodes the city is eligible for Chapter 9 bankruptcy protection.
“That would be a tremendous betrayal of public trust. That’s not what that tax was passed for,” Patterson told The Detroit News on Tuesday. “We will take steps to suspend the tax levy. We’re clearly within our rights, and we’re going to exercise that.”
DIA lease idea floated
Orr’s legal team has floated an idea of letting the museum keep its art but require it to pay a $20 million annual lease for 30 years — essentially making the DIA forfeit most of the $23 million it’s generating from the special property tax tri-county voters approved last year.
Patterson said he believes Orr is backing away from that idea.
“I think people are breathing a little easier today because the potential of that occurring has been tempered,” Patterson said.
The Oakland County Art Institute Authority, which was set up to disburse the new millage money to the DIA, has scheduled its next meeting for 8:30 a.m. Tuesday in the Oakland County Board of Commissioners’ legislative study, Building 12E at 1200 N. Telegraph in Pontiac.
clivengood@detroitnews
(517) 371-3660
Twitter.com/ChadLivengood
Staff writer Lauren Abdel-Razzaq contributed.
From The Detroit News: http://www.detroitnews.com/article/20130814/METRO01/308140036#ixzz2c0Scypr3
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