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...understand the new gallery's significance, consider the history of the DIA, as the museum is known in Detroit. Shortly after its founding in the 1880s, the DIA began collecting Islamic art. The 1920s auto-industry boom made Detroit one of the world's wealthiest cities - "the Paris of the Midwest," many called it. In 1927, the DIA moved into its current home, a white Beaux Arts building near Detroit's downtown, and sharply expanded its collections, mainly with European and American pieces, although it briefly hired an Islamic-arts specialist to curate a small collection. In the following decades...
Because of Detroit's disastrous past decade, the renovation took longer than expected, and the museum struggled: attendance, which is highly dependent on special exhibits, fell sharply. Last year Beal reduced the DIA's budget, from $32 million to $26 million, partly by laying off 20% of the museum's staff. Cultural sites nationwide are struggling to weather the economic crisis, but the challenge facing Detroit's institutions is especially severe; they can no longer rely on support from the region's ailing auto industry. Raising money, Beal says, "has been unbelievably challenging." (See TIME's special report "The Committee...
...gallery's nearly 170 pieces mainly concentrate on Islamic art from countries such as Spain and India. One room showcases sacred Muslim, Jewish and Christian texts. Last month a party marking the gallery's opening drew nearly 300 people, including many Muslim professionals from across the Detroit region. Many hadn't bothered visiting the museum before or hadn't spent much time there. "They didn't feel connected," says Ali Moiin, a prominent physician and the chair of the DIA's Asian and Islamic Arts Forum. The prevailing view, he adds, was, " 'There was nothing I wanted...
...museum is slowly taking other steps to broaden its base of patrons to reflect Detroit's status as one of the country's most ethnically diverse regions. One example is the upcoming exhibit "Through African Eyes: The European in African Art." But some barriers remain. Sitting at a $20,000 table at the DIA's gala last November, a black socialite scanned the largely white room and sighed. Detroit has significant black wealth, she observed, "but it's hard getting them to participate...
...more from TIME's yearlong look at Detroit...