DIA Director Talks Millage Renewal on Detroit Today: “This Is Not a New Tax.”

DIA director, Salvator Salort-Pons, says the renewal would help keep the museum as an internationally-known cultural institution.

The Detroit Institute of Arts.

The Detroit Institute of Arts.

The presidential primary has received the lion’s share of coverage and attention as Michiganders prepare to go to the polls on Tuesday.

There are other key issues on the ballot though, including a millage renewal for the Detroit Institute of Arts. Voters of the tri-county area approved a ten-year millage for the Detroit Institute of Arts in 2012. Now the museum is seeking a ten-year renewal that would begin in 2022. 


Listen: Detroit Institute of Arts director, Salvador Salort-Pons, talks the museum’s proposed millage renewal. 


Jake Neher/WDET
Jake Neher/WDET

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Salvador Salort-Pons, director of the Detroit Institute of Arts, says a millage extension would help to maintain the museum’s existing robust community partnerships, including their extensive student and senior programming. “This is not a new tax. This is not an increase on the current millage. This is just to keep things the way they are,” says Salort-Pons.

He says the DIA not only provides services to the community, but also serves as an international attraction.

“The museum is one of the top five museums in the country,” says Salort-Pons. Touting two impressive upcoming exhibitions, Salort-Pons says the millage would help to uphold the DIA as an important cultural touchstone as well as a community partner. Salort-Pons says the DIA plans to get the museum’s endowment up to $400 million come 2022, with the goal of becoming financially independent. 

This post was written by Detroit Today associate producer Clare Brennan.

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