Friday, February 5, 2010

DePaul tackles deaccession

Time Out Chicago writes about deaccessioning controversies in the context of DePaul Art Museum's exhibit of artworks destined for collection-culling deaccession (hat tip to Donn Zaretsky).

My comment:

Museums should only deaccession to shape collections. Funding to avoid layoffs and program cuts -- or expand staff and programs -- can come from partial title sales with the Maroney Plan or my own Coaccession(tm) method. These let a museum have its Monet and money, too, so artworks can support the arts. Donors in fact finance care and exhibition via the financial value of donated artworks. Museums must mobilize that to maximize the cultural value of their artworks to their public supporters.

Thanks to Time Out Chicago for the 500 character limit. In the middle of the night, external discipline is useful, so the comment is better than it might have been.

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