Time's Richard Lacayo writes about Alice Walton's offer to Fisk University for its Stieglitz works and asks the right questions about joint custody:
Whether it happens or not, these sharing arrangements are getting to be an ever more common proposal for cash-strapped colleges looking to turn their art collections into revenue. But the deals leave open a lot of unanswered questions. Here's just one. If Walton's offer were accepted by Fisk, would her museum be allowed to lend works from the Stieglitz bequest to other museums? Would Fisk have any say over where the works could travel? When institutions "share" collections, who makes the rules? My guess would be the partner with the checkbook.Furthermore, is Fisk allowed to travel the collection (if their future financial situation made that a possibility)? Who restores the works, if restoration is ever necessary? Insurance—who pays for that? Do students and scholars working with Fisk University have access to the works (and associated research materials) when they're off campus?
These aren't impossible questions to navigate. And money isn't a question for Crystal Bridges. But though it's a fifty-fifty split, the two interests aren't approaching it as symmetric partners.
Wait a second. Who is insuring the work now? Who's performing conservation work now? Who has access to the work now? (The answer to each of these questions is the same, unless you count the staff at the Frist Center in the answer to the last one.)
Posted by: Tyler at August 31, 2007 12:33 PMIt would blow my mind if these works weren't insured. The conservation question is hard to say—does any of the work need work? However, if it did, I concede that Crystal Bridges is vastly more able and entirely more willing to do this work than Fisk University.
Posted by: Kriston at August 31, 2007 4:39 PM