Home > Essays > DIA deserves director with integrity
By Alonso del Arte, September 1, 2015
Who else but a crook gets and accepts a huge pay raise when there is a major existential threat to the organization of which he is the director? That's exactly what happened with crook Graham Beal in 2012. With the city in bankruptcy and the Detroit Institute of Arts (DIA) collection in danger of being sold off to pay creditors, crook Graham Beal got a raise that put his pay above that of the United States president.
The DIA deserves a director with integrity. But, unfortunately, the secrecy with which DIA board chair Eugene Gargaro is conducting the search for the next director suggests that another crook might be chosen, one more interested in lining his pockets than in preserving the DIA collection. Gargaro has repeatedly said that high salaries are needed to attract top talent.
But what has Detroit gotten for the DIA wasting more than $8 million on crook Graham Beal? According to Sheri Begin writing for Crain's Detroit Business in 2007, at the beginning of the new millennium:
Beal led a campaign that raised $231 million of its $331 million goal. When a proposed property tax to fund cultural institutions was defeated in 2002 and renovation costs spiked after the discovery of asbestos in the museum's walls, Beal and the DIA launched a new $180 million campaign late in 2004. To date, the campaign has raised $80 million to complete the renovation and to fund operations for the next 10 years, for an endowment and the reinstallation of more than 6,000 pieces of art.
So, crook Graham Beal led a campaign that raised only $231 million of the $331 million goal, or barely 70%. If that was a Kickstarter campaign, it would have failed to raise any money at all. Then in 2004, another fundraising campaign, which as of 2007 hadn't even reached the halfway mark. In 2012, crook Graham Beal's best idea was to try for a millage again. But wait, was that even his idea anyway?
You couldn't even count on crook Graham Beal to at least make a symbolic sacrifice, like declining a raise to an already high salary. Look, you don't need a high salary to attract good candidates to the position. Early responses to a survey (external link will open in new tab or window) suggest that an annual salary of $200,000 and a good parking spot may be enough to entice someone with "honesty and integrity," "ability to raise funds for the DIA" and "an understanding and awareness that Wayne, Oakland and Macomb County residents are providing a majority of DIA funding" to want the position.
But if you are really itching to give out bonuses, here's a novel idea: award them for actual achievements, such as meeting or exceeding fundraising goals, or for securing the DIA against all possible existential threats. Since that's supposed to be such a big reason for having a well-paid director in the first place.
The DIA is a world class institution supposed to be in the public trust of the people of metro Detroit. As such, it deserves a director with not just a proven track record for fundraising, but one who will live up to the standards of the taxpayers without whose support the DIA would not have survived the city's bankruptcy. The taxpayers are the ones who saved the DIA in its time of need, not crook Graham Beal who did little more than cash large paychecks. It is high time that the DIA board listened to their concerns in selecting the next director.
September 2, 2015. This essay was published on Deadline Detroit this morning as a guest commentary (external link will open in new tab or window). The language was toned down a little bit, so that if Graham Beal wants to sue someone for libel, leave Deadline Detroit alone. And do it in an American court. But remember, the best defense against a libel suit is the truth.
There were some rather bruising remarks in the comments section. But that's to be expected whenever you dare criticize someone even as moderately wealthy as Beal (who has presumably saved up something of his large DIA paychecks, and not frittered it all away carelessly at the races or whatever). Plus it's important to remember that it's very rare for people to post a comment just to say they agree completely.
September 5, 2015. I just read the news that some very valuable paintings on loan to the DIA from the late A. Alfred Taubman's collection will be leaving the DIA to be auctioned off at Sotheby's, in part "to settle estate taxes, with the remainder funding the A. Alfred Taubman Foundation." The Free Press quotes Beal as saying "I've never had any substantive discussion with Al [Taubman] about his legacy," which brings us to a segment we like to call "I wouldn't be doing my job if I didn't ask these questions."
Of course hindsight is 20/20, and maybe no one with an art degree could have foreseen the Detroit bankruptcy and deduced its consequences for the DIA. But here are some other questions Graham Beal could have asked over the years but apparently never did: