Director of the Albany Institute of History & Art on Deaccessioning

Christine Miles, no stranger to the deaccessioning wars, writes in the Albany Times Union, that the Brodsky Bill's "intentions are honorable, but it ignores the dire realities that museums face."

Our substantial collection includes one million items. Many of them have resided at the Albany Institute for centuries. All of them need to be indexed, insured and preserved in a state-of-the-art climate-controlled, secured facility. And that costs lots of money. Almost half of our roughly $2 million budget goes toward the care, maintenance and exhibition of our collections.

She attacks New York State's aggressive anti-deaccessioning stance by arguing that, "[i]f [New York's] legislature cared as much about the arts institutions that maintain the treasures it is trying to protect, perhaps it would have expended a similar amount of time and effort to ensure that they were properly funded."

Director of the Albany Institute of History & Art on Deaccessioning