Battle lines are being drawn over the fate of the Detroit Institute of Arts, whose encyclopedic collection of art has become a target of creditors seeking billions from Detroit in the city’s bankruptcy proceedings.
On Tuesday, officials in Oakland County â€" one of three Michigan counties that agreed last year to institute a property tax increase to save the Detroit Institute from devastating budget cuts â€" unanimously approved a resolution warning that any attempt to use the museum’s collection or budget to raise money for the city’s creditors would “terminate any obligation†of the county to continue to provide support.
The Oakland County Art Institute Authority, created to oversee that county’s role in the tax, said in the resolution that it “continues to believe that the museum and its collections are important, irreplaceable and indivisible parts of the cultural fiber of the state and region.†Together, the three counties â€" Oakland, Wayne (which includes Detroit) and Macomb â€" expected to raise about $250 million over a 10-year period to support the museum’s operations and acquisitions.
L. Brooks Patterson, Oakland county’s executive, praised the decision to oppose any use of art as an asset, calling it “a shot heard around the world that we support keeping the D.I.A.’s world-class art collection intact.â€
