Remember the political ruckus over the pay packages in the last years for Graham Beal, director of the Detroit Institute of Arts, and Annmarie Erickson, his deputy?
Local politicians threatened to repeal the millage tax, which is supporting operations at the DIA for the next ten years, because of it. Even though I thought that the pair probably deserved the raises and bonuses as disclosed, I agreed that the optics of them–at the particular time, with the Grand Bargain hanging in the balance–had to be fixed. And I recommended a way out:
Way back when, you may remember, some rich board members of the Museum of Modern Art supplemented Glenn Lowry’s salary with their own funds. Mike Bloomberg did the same for some members of his mayoral staff. Perhaps that is what can happen here.
Now, it seems, the DIA board has listened to the complaints and changed the optics, at least somewhat. According to the Detroit News:
Directors of the Detroit Institute of Arts on Tuesday repaid the museum $90,000 as reimbursement for bonuses awarded to three top executives in 2013, according to a memo sent to suburban authorities this week and obtained by The Detroit News.
Apologizing for making “mistakes which we regret,” but emphasizing there was “no wrongdoing of any kind,” board chairman Eugene Gargaro wrote that the DIA directors were contributing the money to end a very unfortunate situation.
Oakland County Executive L. Brooks Patterson (pictured), who’d criticized the pay packages, was assuaged. The News said he felt the board had learned a lesson and was satisfied that “this mischief won’t continue.”
Earlier this week, the DIA reported that 21 local Japanese businesses, all members of the Japan Business Society of Detroit, had pledged nearly $2.2 million to the DIA, about $1.6 million of which will go to the $100 million the museum must raise for the Grand Bargain. The rest will go to reinstalling the Japanese collection in a new gallery. Details here.
That takes the DIA’s fundraising total to about $87 million for this effort.