AAM president Ford Bell is under the mistaken impression that the NY Board of Regents has decided to "permit museums to sell objects in their collections to cover operating costs."
As I explained yesterday, that's not true at all. The existing Board of Regents regulations (which will continue to govern after the emergency regulations expire) provide:
"In no event shall proceeds derived from the deaccessioning of any property from the collection be used for operating expenses or for any purposes other than the acquisition, preservation, protection or care of collections."
That happens to be exactly the same as the AAM's position on deaccessioning. Bell needn't be alarmed.
Lee Rosenbaum accepts her share of blame for sowing confusion about this.
