100 Million Dollars

DIA pledges to raise $100 million for art, Detroit pension rescue fund

A $100 million promise equates to an additional $5 million in annual fund-raising a year on top of the roughly $12 million it already raises annually for operations and the approximately $200 million in endowment funds that museum has committed to raising over the next decade.

That, my friends, is some rather incredible and admirable arts fund-raising . . .

via ArtsJournal

Just another day in Detroit

I was trying to find images of a rumor that artists had filled a car with explosives and driven it off of this roof, but alas the search engines have not found that video to date.

"Riding around Detroit's derelict Packard plant on a homemade dirt-bike"

via boingboing

Detroit Fire Sale

Gov. Rick Snyder is expected to announce today a state financial pledge toward boosting Detroit’s pension funds and protecting Detroit Institute of Arts paintings from a bankruptcy fire sale, sources told The Detroit News.

Bankruptcy fire sale of a major museum collection to pay unsecured creditors would be a terrible precedent. Slashing pensions for the same would be pernicious.

Detroit Institute of Arts fire sale: The worst idea out of Motor City since the Edsel (Washington Post)

Since I am traveling to Detroit once a year now for work, I find the 50 year saga of its diminishing population and fortunes, and what kind of urban space that has created fascinating.

Good photo essays here:
detroiturbex.com