The 2020 COVID global pandemic brought deacessioning to a new level caused by the extended lockdowns accross the country and the world.
The Met plans to use money from art sales to help it survive the pandemic. Critics say it’s a dangerous precedent.
By Peggy McGlone and Sebastian Smee, The Washington Post / March 8, 2021
The Metropolitan Museum of Art approved a policy last week that allows proceeds from the sale of works from its collection to be used for salaries and overhead costs associated with the collection’s care.
The Met Considers Selling Its Art To Stave Off Financial Shortfall
By Farah Eltohamy, NPR / February 22, 2021
The pandemic is causing The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York to consider selling its artwork to cover operational costs as it falls short of $150 million in revenue.
A virtual 2-day symposium that aims to comprehensively address collections and deaccessioning in the context of the economic fallout of the pandemic and the national call to rethink the role and responsibilities of museums and their collections in an increasingly diverse and complex world. The symposium’s agenda reflects a broad set of perspectives and taps experts from across the art and museum world, from directors and trustees, to seasoned museum professionals, scholars, legal experts, artists, auction houses, journalists, and influencers.
Following $12 M. Pollock Sale, Everson Museum Acquires Contemporary Works by Shinique Smith, Ellen Lesperance, More
By Angelica Villa, ArtNews / January 7, 2021
The Everson Museum of Art in Syracuse, New York, has announced the acquisition of seven works by emerging and mid-career artists to its permanent collection, including works by well-known artists Shinique Smith and Ellen Lesperance, as well as pieces from local artists. The newly acquired works will be featured in the museum’s upcoming exhibition “Who What When Where” scheduled to open in March.
Two news threads sparked the museum world’s collective consciousness last week: One, Charles Venable’s resignation from the Indianapolis Museum of Art, and the second, the Metropolitan Museum’s announcement that it will take AAMD up on its COVID loophole, allowing art museums to put deaccession funds towards collections care as opposed to acquisitions.
After renovations, how will the Berkshire Museum move forward?
By Hope Davis and Rosemary Starace, The Berkshire Eagle / February 12, 2021
The Berkshire Museum’s investment of $3.5 million in building renovation is good news, but did it require sacrificing the community’s most valuable art?
As Museums Push to Sell Art, Competing Ideas About Deaccessioning Are Playing Out in Public
By Andrew Russeth, Artnews / February 8, 2021
The Berkshire Museum’s investment of $3.5 million in building renovation is good news, but did it require sacrificing the community’s most valuable art?
SAVE THE ART (STA) A grassroots citizens group established in 2017 with the intent of stopping the sale of the Berkshire Museum’s treasured art collection in order to find an alternate solution to its continued financial shortfall.
MISSION
The mission of Save the Art is to advocate for and protect the Public Trust — the art and objects belonging to all of us that document humankind’s creative and social history through time.
PRESS
We thank the Berkshire Eagle for their extensive investigative coverage, the journalists, op-ed writers and our community for their hundreds of letters of concern. In particular, STA applauds Larry Parnass, Investigations Editor, Berkshire Eagle, for his excellent coverage of the Berkshire Museum and achievement of the 2018 Outstanding Journalism award from the New England Newspaper and Press Association.
