The City of Detroit is nearing a pension cuts deal which may allow the Detroit Institute of Arts to spin off from city ownership, provided state funding, foundation contributions and Detroit Institute of Arts fund-raising would provide $816 million to reduce potential cuts to city pensions.  The city is sell engaged with talks with representatives from the city’s largest pension funds. (more…)

In what may be the final piece of the puzzle to rescue the Detroit Institute of Arts collection from a potential auction by the city, the museum has made the commitment to raise $100 million in additional funds over the next 20 years.  The donation would secure city pension funds, and in turn, hold the city to an agreement to transfer the legal title of ownership to the museum, effectively preserving it from any future sale.  “Clearly this is going to be a challenge,” COO Annmarie Erickson said. “It’s an enormous amount of money, but we’ve proven over and over again that we are good at raising money. We’ll have to balance this effort with our need to raise endowment dollars and operational funding. But given that this will help move the bankruptcy along quickly, that it will help the pensioners (and) ensure that the DIA collection is safeguarded for the public, we have compelling arguments to take to donors.” (more…)

The Artist Pension Trust, cited as the largest collection of contemporary art in the world, is currently looking to sell off 5,000 works from its collection, the Telegraph reports.  The sale of works will cut the fund’s collection nearly in half, and will go to benefit both the artists in the trust, as well as the operating costs of the trust. “We are hoping to place works privately with institutions through our team of curators,” say Moti Shniberg, a trust co-founder. “Otherwise, interested buyers can contact us. The works are all listed on the Trust’s website.” (more…)