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WILKES-BARRE &#8212; The curator of the Maslow Collection at Marywood University said Tuesday the decision of Wilkes University to sell off part of its art collection &#8220;just doesn&#8217;t feel right&#8221; and will not sit well with the professional art community.But the controversy may be fueled by misunderstanding, according to Wilkes President Patrick Leahy.Robert Schweitzer, curator of the Maslow Collection, said Wilkes&#8217; initiative to create a new, high-profile gallery in a location more broadly open to the public is an exciting venture and &#8220;one that will greatly enhance the activities by others in the community.&#8221;Wilkes recently announced plans to relocate the Sordoni Art Gallery to South Main Street and bring nationally and internationally known travelling art exhibits to downtown Wilkes-Barre. Beginning in fall 2016, the gallery will move to the former Bartikowsky&#8217;s building at 141 S. Main St. with an entrance on the new Campus Gateway.A Wilkes news release stated the move is part of a gallery revitalization plan that aims to enrich the arts experience on campus for faculty, staff, and &#8212; most importantly &#8212; students, while contributing to the cultural life of downtown Wilkes-Barre and the Wyoming Valley.Greater focus for the artsSchweitzer said the new space will bring the arts into greater focus and reach a larger public audience. But he takes &#8220;serious issue&#8221; with the manner by which he says Wilkes has chosen to fund the project.&#8220;The university has decided to raise much of the needed funds for the project by selling the most significant works in its existing art collection,&#8221; Schweitzer claimed. &#8220;Although the deaccessioning of one or more works from a museum or university art collection occurs from time to time, it must be done only in a manner consistent with professionally accepted procedures established by the American Alliance of Museums, the College Art Association or the Association of Art Museum Directors.&#8221;Schweitzer provided deaccessioning guidelines from the Association of Art Museum Directors:&#8220;Deaccessioning and disposal from the art museum&#8217;s collection must never be for the purpose of providing financial support or benefit for other goals of the university or college or its foundation. In no event should the funds received from disposal of a deaccessioned work be used for operations or capital expenditures.&#8221;Schweitzer said university art collections are not merely assets waiting to be leveraged into other projects.Wilkes&#8217; president respondsWilkes University President Patrick Leahy said no money raised from the deaccessioning will be used to renovate the new space. He said the deaccessioning of the Sordoni collection is expected to raise more than $1 million and none of those dollars will be spent on the renovation.&#8220;We intend to use that money to attract high-quality traveling art shows to the gallery,&#8221; Leahy said.According to Schweitzer, however, the deaccessioning of the current collection will not be received well by the arts community and chances are high-quality travelling shows will not want to come to a university that has sold off its collection.&#8220;That&#8217;s what they are suggesting,&#8221; Leahy said. &#8220;But it&#8217;s balanced by the overwhelming support we are receiving from our local arts community. If they (the professional arts community) can convince me that there is a flaw in our strategy, we are willing to listen.&#8221;Assistant gallery director resignsBrittany Kramer DeBalko resigned her position as assistant director of the Sordoni Art Gallery on Oct. 2 because of the decision to deaccession the collection. DeBalko, 32, of Drums, said she felt the university&#8217;s actions were &#8220;unethical.&#8221; She said she was unaware of the plan while she was on maternity leave, learning only weeks ago of the plan.&#8220;I can&#8217;t compromise my own professional integrity by enabling or engaging in actions that I believe to be unethical,&#8221; DeBalko said. &#8220;Other institutions aren&#8217;t going to want to collaborate with other learning institutions that don&#8217;t follow industry standards and best practices.&#8221;DeBalko said she felt she was forced out of her position, but Leahy said her job was never in jeopardy.&#8220;While they verbally assured me that my job was safe, their actions made it very difficult for me to do my job,&#8221; DeBalko said.DeBalko has worked at the gallery for 10 years. The Sordoni Art Gallery was established in 1973.Schweitzer said a university should not circumvent its traditional fundraising procedures and just tap into its art collection to find the best works to sell in order to make up any possible budget shortfall.&#8220;The consequences are obviously deeply troubling and far-reaching for any institution,&#8221; he said. &#8220;First, it&#8217;s a gift, not to be sold to anybody to be able to pay for somebody&#8217;s salary.&#8221;Dr. Stanley Grand, who served as gallery director in the past, will serve on an interim basis as a consultant. He already had been engaged as a consultant to assist with the Sordoni project.Three-part planLeahy said he was surprised at the reaction to the university&#8217;s plan, which he said is to make a bold investment in the arts.Leahy described the three-pronged plan as follows:&#8226; First, create a permanently dedicated multi-million-dollar exhibition endowment that will be used to bring high-quality art exhibits from nationally and internationally-known artists. To create this fund, Wilkes will sell selected pieces of the collection &#8212; a process known as deaccessioning.The collection contains 1,500 works of art, of which approximately 65 comprise the majority of the monetary value. The sale of the collection is estimated to yield around $1.3 million. The gallery&#8217;s current endowment is about $750,000.&#8226; The second part of the plan calls for hiring a highly-qualified faculty member to run the art gallery and enhance the university arts programming. This faculty member will curate traveling shows, develop academic programming, integrate the gallery into the campus arts community and help identify new funding sources to enhance the gallery.&#8226; The final step calls for the Sordoni Art Gallery to be moved to its new location. The building will house both the gallery and the communication studies department and is adjacent to the Sidhu School of Business.According to Leahy, the three-part plan for the gallery came at the encouragement of Andrew J. Sordoni III, whose family established the gallery at Wilkes in 1973. Sordoni, who has a distinguished history of supporting the arts, affirmed the new direction for the gallery, saying, &#8220;From my experience in the arts, this is extraordinary stewardship. We are going to better serve our students, our community and posterity.&#8221;&#8220;There seems to be some confusion as to what we will use the money from the deaccessioning for,&#8221; Leahy said. &#8220;Of course, I&#8217;m willing to talk with these groups to assure they fully understand our strategy here. I don&#8217;t believe that you can be a true university without an enduring commitment to art.&#8221;<style>
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<div class="neCaption">Patrons of the Sordoni Art Gallery on the campus of Wilkes University attend the 2011 opening reception for &#8216;Portraits From The Golden Age Of Jazz, Photographs By William Gottlieb.&#8217; Louis Armstrong&#8217;s portrait hangs in the foreground. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/web1_photoexhibit02_toned.jpg</photo0><caption0>Patrons of the Sordoni Art Gallery on the campus of Wilkes University attend the 2011 opening reception for &#8216;Portraits From The Golden Age Of Jazz, Photographs By William Gottlieb.&#8217; Louis Armstrong&#8217;s portrait hangs in the foreground. </caption0><photoCredit0>Pete G. Wilcox | Times Leader file photo </photoCredit0></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta>By Bill O&#8217;Boyleboboyle@www.timesleader.com</bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta>Reach Bill O&#8217;Boyle at 570-991-6118 or on Twitter @TLBillOBoyle.</shirttailMeta></div>

Citing ‘unethical practices,’ assistant art director of Sordoni Gallery at Wilkes University resigns