The Detroit Institute of Arts, whose world-class art collection has become a potential target for the city’s creditors in Detroit’s federal bankruptcy case, announced on Monday that it would not file an objection in court to the city’s eligibility for relief under Chapter 9. Monday was the deadline for objections to the city seeking bankruptcy protection.
The museum, which has vowed to go to court to oppose any attempt to sell its art to raise money for to the city, said in a statement that it “recognizes the city’s severe financial distress and its need for the protection and powers of the bankruptcy court†to help get the city back on its feet. But it added that the city should not “undercut those goals by jeopardizing Detroit’s most important cultural institution and the economic, educational and other significant benefits it brings to the city and the region.â€
The city’s emergency manager, Kevyn D. Orr, has said that he has no intention of selling the art to raise money to satisfy creditors. And Michigan’s attorney general issued a formal opinion in June stating that the collection, though owned by the city, is held in charitable trust for the people of Michigan and cannot be sold to help settle some of Detroit’s billions of dollars in debts.
But Mr. Orr’s office has hired the auction house Christie’s to perform a detailed appraisal of the value of the collection, which experts have said is easily worth several billion dollars. In the statement Monday, the museum criticized Mr. Orr’s decision to undertake the appraisal.
“Repeated statements that ‘everything is on the table’ and the emergency manager’s retention of Christie’s auction house to appraise the D.I.A. collection,†the museum said, “further complicate and confuse an already complex proceeding.â€
