CHICAGO -- Two more foundations have pledged another $13 million to the Detroit Institute of Arts as part of a deal to help the city exit bankruptcy while protecting its art collection.
The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation announced Wednesday it will pledge $10 million, and Los Angeles-based J. Paul Getty Trust said it will donate $3 million, to the DIA's effort to raise $100 million. The DIA contribution is part of the so-called "grand bargain" featuring hundreds of millions of dollars in state and private money that will go toward the city's pensions in a deal worked out by the city's bankruptcy court mediators.
"By pledging this unusually large grant to a single institution, the [Mellon] foundation recognizes the significance of the DIA for the ongoing recovery and renewal of Detroit, and affirms its confidence that the museum will remain critical to the cultural life of the city and nation," the foundation said in a statement on its contribution.
The new pledges come two days after the museum announced that the Detroit Three automakers would give $26 million toward the effort. Ford Motor Company will contribute $10 million, General Motors will give $5 million, General Motors Foundation will provide $5 million, and $6 million will come from Chrysler Group LLC.
The bargain to bolster city pensioners' while protecting the museum's fine art collection is the cornerstone of Detroit's plan of confirmation as well as settlements the city has won with most of its major labor creditors. Many of those settlements are based on the bargain, which also calls for all current and future lawsuits against the state to be dropped.
