Museum Visitors to Vote on Which Work Not to Deaccession

Democracy in action.

Due to limited storage space and evolving collecting philosophy, the Georgia Museum of Art at the University of Georgia staff has decided to “deaccession,” or remove from its collection, all but one of Smol’s works. Visitors will be able to vote on which one they would like the museum to keep, and curatorial staff will take those votes into consideration.

Museum Visitors to Vote on Which Work Not to Deaccession

Will the Detroit Institute of Arts sell its collection to cover its $15 billion debt?

Detroit emergency manager Kevyn Orr is considering whether the multibillion-dollar collection at the Detroit Institute of Arts should be considered city assets that potentially could be sold to cover about $15 billion in debt.

Oh, oh. This is not going to be very popular, at all. 

But this isn't going to go down without a fight. DIA Executive Vice President Annmarie Erickson said the museum has hired New York bankruptcy attorney Richard Levin of Cravath, Swaine & Moore to advise ways to protect the collection from possible losses. 

“We are standing by our contention and belief that we hold the collection in trust for the public,” Erickson said this evening. “And although to some it may seem to be an asset, we do not.”

Via The Detroit Free Press. 

Will the Detroit Institute of Arts sell its collection to cover its $15 billion debt?

New Law Review Article: In Museums We Trust

Sara Tam, 3L at Fordham Law School, has just published In Museums We Trust: Analyzing the Mission of Museums, Deaccessioning Policies, and the Public Trust, in the Fordham Urban Journal. Here's the abstract.

This Note demonstrates that the emphasis on collections management policies undermines a museum’s mission to provide public access to its collections and exhibitions, whether the emphasis originates from museum professional organizations, legislative and judicial action, or media criticism. It highlights the relationship between museums and the public, exploring the museum’s duty to the public, the public’s support of museums, and the public’s expectations of museums. Defining this relationship contributes significantly to shaping museum standards. This Note provides a comprehensive examination of the varying perspectives on the legal and ethical duties currently imposed on museums.

Part I provides an overview of the museum’s mission to collect and exhibit art for the benefit of the public. It also describes the historical development of museum standards and deaccessioning policies. Part II evaluates the effectiveness of current and proposed policies on deaccessioning and the use of deaccessioning sales proceeds, as well as the theories supporting those policies. Part III posits that museums can be trusted to develop and enforce standards that reflect equally the public interest in museums themselves, their collections, and the educational experiences museums offer. Therefore, this Note suggests that legislative intervention is unnecessary to protect the public interest in museums and their collections.

New Law Review Article: In Museums We Trust

Overview of New New York Deaccessioning Rules

Although the new rules were approved last year, it’s always good to have a concise overview.
New rules on deaccessioning were approved by the New York Board of Regents on May 17, 2011, and went into effect on June 8, 2011. The NY Board of Regents oversees most museums in the state that were formed after 1889. If a museum violates these rules, it risks losing its charter.

Via Patterson Belknap.

Overview of New New York Deaccessioning Rules

Corcoran Will Not Deaccession Art to Plug Its Budget Hole

At least two important budget questions were answered: The museum is not, has not, and will not consider deaccessioning works to plug its budget hole, Roth assured. And the $20.5 million made from the sale of the lease with Carr Properties for the parking lot—$4 million of which it has already received, with another $10.5 million coming within the next two years—went toward immediate cash flow.

Via Washington City Paper.

Corcoran Will Not Deaccession Art to Plug Its Budget Hole

Appeals Court Approves Fisk University's Sale of O'Keeffe Collection

The Wall Street Journal reports that a state appeals court has affirmed a lower state court's decision to permit the partial sale by Fisk University of the art colleciton donated to it by Georgia O'Keefe and also concluded that the lower court lacked authority to require Fisk to set aside two-thirds of the sales proceeds, or $20 million, as an endowment to maintain the collection.

Via The Nonprofit Blog.

Appeals Court Approves Fisk University's Sale of O'Keeffe Collection

Museum's Deaccession to Pay for Renovations

Here's one that's going to upset quite a few anti-deaccessionists.

The Birger Sandzen Memorial Gallery on the campus of Bethany College in Lindsborg, Kan., is scheduled to sell its sole work by Marsden Hartley, one of the leading American modernist painters of the 20th century.

Curator Ron Michael said the gallery fell $700,000 short on its recent capital campaign to fund much needed renovations and hopes to raise that amount and more by selling Hartley’s “Untitled (Still life)” (1919) at an auction Thursday at Sotheby’s in New York.

Via the Kansas City Star. 

Museum's Deaccession to Pay for Renovations