The Detroit Institute of Arts announced Feb. 23 that it plans to eliminate 20 percent of its staff and reduce programs in an effort to decrease operating expenses and maintain financial stability.
The DIA, the fifth largest museum in the U.S. and one of Wayne State’s longtime resources, will layoff 63 employees, and reduce rather than abolish programs, in order to cut back on operating costs.
The museum will save $6 million in its annual $34 million operating budget.
“The situation confronting the DIA is being played out across the country,” Graham W. J. Beal, DIA director, said in a press release. “As with thousands of businesses and cultural institutions, we have been driven to painful decisions.”
The 56 full-time and seven part-time jobs eliminated will save the museum $3.6 million, while other expense reductions will save $1.6 million in the coming year.
The museum’s budget cuts affect every department, including the curators, conservation, learning and interpretation, building operations, communications and marketing and accounting.
Pam Marcil, DIA’s director of public relations, pointed to “the dive the economy has taken” as what necessitated the reductions.
“There’s been a gap in the museum’s revenues and expenses,” Marcil said. “So, we had to subsidize the operating expenses.”
She explained that the DIA has continually received substantially less state support.
“The museum once received $16 million from the state, back in 1990,” Marcil said. “That was eventually cut down to $8 million. Now, the DIA only receives $1 million.”
Wayne State art professor Christiane L. Joost-Gaugier was also disappointed about the cutbacks.
“It’s unfortunate,” she said. “I think everybody in the civilized world thinks it is — it’s an ornament of Detroit.
“It’s one of the greatest museums in the world. They have world-class collections — paintings, sculptures, graphic art and decorative art.”
Joost-Gaugier said she saw the DIA as a resource that has helped enhance learning at WSU.
“Many students and professors use the DIA for different reasons,” she said. “We send our students to the museum. There, the students can learn from seeing real works of art because when you’re just looking at slideshows in a classroom, you’re only looking at a reproduction.
“When you’re looking at the original artwork, you see the struggle of the artist.”
Linda Speck, Wayne State senior lecturer, who is a member of the recently closed humanities department, echoed Joost-Gaugier’s sentiments.
“I depend on the museum to teach my classes,” Speck said. “It doesn’t matter what class it is. I require the students to go to the DIA.”
Speck said she has used the DIA for teaching since beginning at WSU as a part-time professor in the 1970s.
She now teaches interdisciplinary arts in the Irvin D. Reid Honors College.
Speck said the DIA’s greatest mission has been its effort to collect artwork that is representative of its diverse public.
“The DIA has a history of having art from different parts of the world, and people here come from different parts of the world,” Speck said. “The museum is prepared to show world culture.”
She took particular issue with the museum’s cuts that affect its curators.
“The museum’s director was quoted saying, ‘the general public wouldn’t notice the kind of cuts they made,’” Speck said. “[But] sooner or later, somebody will notice. Curators don’t just sit there. They’re highly-trained professionals. They keep up the collections of art and guide tours in the museum.”
Joost-Gaugier said the DIA should focus on maintaining its art collections, while Speck said the DIA should be mindful of reducing its operating hours, and changing ticket prices, which are $8 per adult.
“It‘s still a lot less than other major museums,” Speck said. “But the DIA has to be careful.”
However, Marcil insisted the DIA’s reductions wouldn’t be obvious.
In fact, she said the museum had no plans to change its hours or ticket prices.
Marcil also ensured that the DIA isn’t in debt due to asbestos that was discovered during the museum’s six-year renovation plan, which concluded in 2007.
“That was difficult for the museum,” she said. “We hadn’t expected that.”
According to Marcil, the DIA engaged in successful fundraising for the $40 million asbestos removal.
“Right now, we’re focused on keeping the museum financially stable, and keeping the visitor experience as it always has been,” she said.
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