Less than two weeks after a federal judge approved Detroit’s historic bankruptcy plan, the Detroit Institute of Arts (DIA) has raised nearly 90% of its $100m goal to support the city’s regeneration. The museum has secured $87m in pledges toward the so-called Grand Bargain, an $816m scheme to support Detroit’s pensions and permanently transfer ownership of the DIA’s city-owned art to the museum.
The day before the judge’s verdict on 7 November, the DIA announced that 21 Japanese businesses with branches in Detroit, including Mitsubishi and Panasonic, had pledged $2.2m. Three-quarters of the money will go toward DIA’s commitment to the Grand Bargain, while the remaining 25% will help fund a long-planned but previously stalled reinstallation of the museum’s Japanese collection in a new gallery.
