CHICAGO -- The Detroit Institute of Arts has raised 80% of the $100 million it pledged to contribute to Detroit's underfunded pension debt.
The museum's $100 million contribution is part of the so-called grand bargain that includes donations from private foundations and a $195 million cash contribution from the state of Michigan.
The money will go toward pensioners in exchange for transferring the art collection to an independent authority protected from the city's bankruptcy.
DIA officials last week announced a new $27 million pledge at a packed ceremony in front of the museum's famous Diego Rivera Detroit mural. The art collection is at the center of the bankruptcy, with city and state officials leveraging it to raise private donations. Financial creditors fighting the city's exit plan say the collection is undervalued and that the proceeds should be shared by all creditors, not just pensioners.
The contribution means the DIA has raised more than $80 million since January, officials said.
"I can't remember a time of feeling such unity and hope," said Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan at the press conference. He called the grand bargain "genius," and said he didn't think it was possible when he first heard about it.
"It's truly historic," said U.S. Chief District Judge Gerald Rosen, the bankruptcy case's chief mediator who crafted the grand bargain, who was also at the press conference. "As we keep saying to each other in mediation: Onward."
The new contributions came from Penske Corp., DTE Energy, Quicken Loans and others.
