Michigan museum has $41.9 M restoration

ANN ARBOR, Mich. — The University of Michigan Museum of Art is staking a claim as an academic and community center for the arts with a $41.9 million expansion and renovation of its home in the heart of campus.

The museum recently reopened, bringing a sorely needed update to its nearly century-old home and more than doubling the space available for display, temporary exhibitions, programs and education with a new wing.

It's the culmination of years of fundraising in a Michigan economy that's been in recession since long before the rest of the country. But Director James Steward says the museum, with its new light-filled expanses of galleries, is a testament to its patrons and the school's commitment to the arts.

"Our benefactors have felt so strongly about the value of giving to a museum that can be in a position to help fundamentally shape the experience of tomorrow's leaders — the students of the university, young people," Steward says.

The reopening comes as colleges and universities across the country grapple with the future of their museums amid the economic downturn. Some are pushing forward with bold plans for new buildings while others are selling off pieces of art to help raise money or even considering closing.

More than 90 percent of Michigan's construction funds came from private donations, and hundreds of art works worth at least $37 million were pledged to bolster the museum's collection of more than 18,000 pieces. Steward noted it was fortunate Michigan's fundraising, which ran from 2001 to 2008, didn't start later because raising money in the current downturn would be even more challenging.

At the University of California, Berkeley, plans are moving ahead for a new $130 million to $140 million home for the Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive. A spring 2013 public opening is planned and the project is nearing the halfway mark of its fundraising goal.

"In the current economic situation, were there to be a short delay, I wouldn't be surprised," said Director Lawrence Rinder, who previously worked with Steward at the Berkeley museum. "We're doing very well with our campaign."

Faced with economic realities, other schools have raised questions about the future of their art museums.

Most notably, Brandeis University in Waltham, Mass., caused an uproar with an announcement from the school in January about its museum. The university's president later clarified the statement, saying that while the Rose Art Museum may no longer be a public museum, it would remain open with a focus on serving the school's educational needs.