Tag: Detroit Institute of Arts

State lawmakers snub Koch brothers & screw the Detroit Institute of Arts, vote for state aid in Detroit bankruptcy deal

State lawmakers snub Koch brothers & screw the Detroit Institute of Arts, vote for state aid in Detroit bankruptcy deal

Efforts by the Koch brothers front group Americans for Prosperity to scuttle the Detroit bankruptcy settlement were shot down in flames as the state legislature overwhelmingly voted yesterday to contribute $194.8 million toward the deal. This was the amount needed to ensure that the deal did not collapse and which saves the Detroit Institute of Arts’ priceless art collection while […]

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Banks & insurance companies ask Detroit to eat its seed corn, obtain bids for billions of dollars for DIA art collection

Banks & insurance companies ask Detroit to eat its seed corn, obtain bids for billions of dollars for DIA art collection

It’s priceless art, not an “asset” The Detroit Free Press is reporting this afternoon that Financial Guaranty Insurance Co. has filed paperwork with the federal bankruptcy court overseeing Detroit’s bankruptcy showing that several four separate investors have made bids on the priceless art collection held by the Detroit Institute of Arts worth billions of dollars. A financial insurance giant that […]

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Deal underway for foundations to pay ransom to protect Detroit Institute of Arts collection

Deal underway for foundations to pay ransom to protect Detroit Institute of Arts collection

Creative strongarming? Detroit Emergency Manager Kevyn Orr has said for some time that he expects the Detroit Institute of Arts to come up with a half billion dollars of what can only be called ransom to help settle Detroit’s bankruptcy crisis. The expectation had the result of pitting the pensions of retired Detroit workers against priceless pieces of art held […]

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Detroit’s bank creditors: Christie’s art appraisal not good enough, might give “inappropriately low assessment” of DIA’s collection

Detroit’s bank creditors: Christie’s art appraisal not good enough, might give “inappropriately low assessment” of DIA’s collection

The desperation is getting palpable While Governor Rick Snyder met with billionaire Warren Buffett and Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein in Detroit yesterday, another group of wealthy moneymen were across town filing a motion with the federal judge asking that he take action on their behalf in Detroit’s ongoing bankruptcy saga. The banks that are owed money by Detroit are […]

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“A half billion dollars or the art gets it” – The looting of Detroit and why bankruptcy may be the best course

“A half billion dollars or the art gets it” – The looting of Detroit and why bankruptcy may be the best course

A rock on one side and a hard place on the other Last year, the Detroit Institute of Arts had over a half million visitors. The museum is a huge tourist draw and an anchor for the area of Detroit that surrounds it. The cost to the city of Detroit for this priceless collection of art is exactly zero dollars. […]

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Detroit Institute of Arts is ready for the battle to protect its art, gets help from outside groups (including a dragon)

Detroit Institute of Arts is ready for the battle to protect its art, gets help from outside groups (including a dragon)

#SaveTheArt Earlier this month, in the dark of night, a giant dragon sidled its way up to the Detroit Institute of Arts (DIA). It belched out a giant plume of flame which ignited a gas-soaked sign on the front lawn of the museum which spelled out the phrase #SaveTheArt. The scene was the artistic creation of Detroit artist Ryan C. […]

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Rachel Maddow reports on recent victory in effort to repeal Michigan’s Emergency Manager law

Rachel Maddow reports on recent victory in effort to repeal Michigan’s Emergency Manager law

This court decision “could restore small-d democracy across Michigan” Last night, Rachel Maddow reported on something that regular readers of this blog already know: a recent federal appeals court decision has major implications for the potential striking down of Michigan’s anti-democratic Emergency Manager law. While this news is, in my mind, HUGE, it barely got noticed anywhere including in Michigan […]

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So now we know who brought Christie’s auction house in to appraise Detroit’s art collection: Emergency Manager Kevyn Orr

So now we know who brought Christie’s auction house in to appraise Detroit’s art collection: Emergency Manager Kevyn Orr

What were the odds…? [DIA “Thinker” image modified from CC photo by Michael Barera | Wikimedia Commons] A couple of weeks ago, we learned that Christie’s auction house was in Detroit to appraise the Detroit Institute of Arts legendary collection. At the time, nobody knew who had called them in. Pamela Marcil, a museum spokeswoman, said “We don’t know who […]

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Dear world: Keep your greedy hands off the Detroit Institute of Arts’ collection

Dear world: Keep your greedy hands off the Detroit Institute of Arts’ collection

The DIA is a superhero among museums. But that doesn’t mean it should have to save Detroit. I don’t understand this obsession some people have with the Detroit Institute of Arts selling off the treasures in its collection. Do they think it’s the DIA’s responsibility to save Detroit? Because it’s not. Of course, the people who think the DIA should […]

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Just in case you thought the Detroit Institute of Arts’s priceless collection was safe, it’s not. Appraisers have arrived.

Just in case you thought the Detroit Institute of Arts’s priceless collection was safe, it’s not. Appraisers have arrived.

This is unreal

“This is unprecedented in my experience,” he said. “It seems reckless to even consider liquidating these public assets.”

That’s Maxwell Anderson, director of the Dallas Museum of Art, one of the country’s most highly regarded museum directors talking about the sale of the Detroit Institute of Arts’ priceless art collection. Despite the fact that many people thought even contemplating liquidating their collection to pay Detroit’s creditors, many of whom are banks, the opposite is actually true.

Details after the jump.

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No, Virginia, the DIA is not ruin porn

No, Virginia, the DIA is not ruin porn

One writer’s suggestion that Detroit doesn’t deserve its art treasures is offensive, elitist and idiotic. Although she wrote an article for Bloomberg entitled “Detroit’s Van Gogh Would Be Better Off in L.A.,” Virginia Postrel has never actually set foot in the Detroit Institute of Arts. She says she has been to Detroit, though, so I’m forced to imagine she’s one […]

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