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New DIA director needs to be honest, early survey results suggest

Rodin's Thinker, in front of the DIA, wrapped for some reason or other.

By Alonso del Arte, September 18, 2015

The wrongfully secretive search for the next DIA director has suddenly ended, promoting Salvador Salort-Pons, former director of the DIA's European Art Department, to the coveted spot. Maybe this means the Surveymonkey survey I put out is now irrelevant. But maybe the fact there have only been 15 responses says more about my failure to publicize this survey than it does about how many people are actually paying attention to what goes on at the DIA.

People are paying attention. Sherri Welch of Crain's Detroit Business reports that Salort-Pons lives in Bloomfield Hills and plans to move to Detroit. People are already wondering whether the DIA board will jump to pay his new mortgage and his moving expenses. At least one person has suggested he should keep his residence in Bloomfield Hills. Why is the commute suddenly a problem? Graham Beal has set a lot of examples. Of don't's. The new director needs to set examples of do's.

So here, without further ado, are the results of the survey so far.

Residence and work/study of survey respondents

Eight of the respondents live in Wayne County, four in Oakland and three in Macomb. Seven of the respondents work or study in Wayne, four in Oakland, two in Macomb, one in another county or in Canada, and one respondent chose not to answer this question.

Rank qualities of the new director by importance

  1. Honesty and integrity. Although not all respondents so far ranked this as the most important, in the aggregate score it's at the top of the list.
  2. Personal fiscal responsibility. There is the perception that bad management of personal finances predicts bad management of an organization's assets.
  3. Ability to raise funds for the DIA (not necessarily the same as ability to raise funds for himself). People understand that fundraising is tough, but without honesty and integrity, it is not perceived to matter as much.
  4. An understanding and awareness that Wayne, Oakland and Macomb County residents are providing a majority of DIA funding. Quite the sore spot, this one.
  5. Knowledge of art and art history. In an ideal world, this would be the most important.
  6. Prior experience running a museum or gallery.
  7. Prior experience running a taxpayer-funded institution.
  8. Personal artistic ability. There is a perception that artists are not suited to run museums. If the best the director can do for a figurative painting is a stick figure, well, that's okay.
  9. Fashion sense. A director can be forgiven eccentric clothing choices (like bowties) if he has all the qualities listed above. At least the most recent photos of Salort-Pons show him wearing a proper tie.

Next millage vote in danger of failing

"If in 2012 you had known that Graham Beal was getting a raise to $513K, would you have voted for the DIA millage?" Three respondents said yes, 12 said no. Of course the next millage vote is still years away and this survey can't predict how that will go. But the DIA board needs to seriously think about this one right now.

Conditions for the millage to continue

  1. Complete transparency on the budget, so that any taxpayer may review budget documents.
  2. Complete transparency on the hiring of executives, so that the public may assess an executive's track record. I suppose at least with Salort-Pons already having worked in the DIA it should be easier to assess his past performance.
  3. Elected officials having veto power over DIA executive raises. There is something seriously wrong when politicians are considered more trustworthy than museum executives.

Five respondents filled in other conditions:

Rank criteria for director pay by importance

  1. What the taxpayers consider fair compensation.
  2. What arts professionals in executive positions are getting paid. The survey gave the example of the Dean of the Wayne State University College of Fine, Performing & Communication Arts, who is paid roughly $200K a year.
  3. What public officials in Michigan are getting paid. Note that even just $200K still puts the DIA director above what is allotted for the Michigan governor.
  4. What CEOs of successful corporations are getting paid. The survey held up Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, with a base salary of less than $100K, as an example, but there are overpaid CEOs out there.
  5. What other nonprofit directors are getting paid.
  6. What previous DIA directors were paid.
  7. What other museum directors are getting paid.

Opinions on director pay amount

Eight respondents agreed the maximum pay for the director should be $200K a year. Three said $300K and another three said $400K. Only one respondent said $100K.

Priorities if you were director

Each respondent was asked to imagine that he or she is director of the DIA, and then rank these issues in order of importance to him or her.

  1. The morale and well-being of all DIA employees, including the lowest paid, least skilled. There is an increasing awareness that a lot of DIA employees are getting paid poverty wages. What would happen if the DIA employees revolted? It may sound unlikely, but you need to do something to make sure that remains purely a hypothetical.
  2. The future preservation of the DIA's material assets. After all, this was the reason the millage was passed.
  3. If the taxpayers think I'm doing a good job.
  4. The quality of my parking spot. Some perks don't cost a lot of money. Some marking paint, a stencil, that doesn't cost much.
  5. What kinds of perks I'm getting.
  6. How much I'm getting paid compared to other museum directors.
  7. If my residence is luxuriously appointed and located in a wealthy suburb.
  8. If political pundits think I'm doing a good job.

Conclusion, for now

When voters were asked to approve the DIA millage back in 2012, it was often repeated that it would cost each property taxpayer about $20 a year, and that a lot of people spend more than that on things like Starbucks coffee. It is a small but noble sacrifice to give up $20 a year to preserve a world-class museum. But if the choice is between a couple of Starbucks lattes and padding the salary of an overpaid executive, wouldn't you rather choose the coffee for yourself?

In her newer article, Welch wrote that "the DIA's new director will face new demands for transparency as he takes over." These survey results give a taste of what those new demands will be.

If I can get this survey to 100 responses, I will publish much more complete statistics. Click here to answer the survey (external link will open in new tab or window). Regardless of that, call your county commissioner and tell him or her that you will not tolerate dishonesty from the new DIA director.

References