LOCAL/S TATE
.First year a tough one for
African American museum
i
DETROIT (AP) - As the Museum
of African American History prepares
to celebrate its first anniversary in its
new building tomorrow, it faces budget
shortfalls, lagging attendance and a
floundering permanent collection.
First-year attendance was projected
at 600,000, a massive leap from the pre-
vious year, when just 75,000 people
came. But attendance is under 400,000,
the Detroit Free Press reported yester-
day. And of that, only 225,000 paid for
admission. "The rest were there for free
events.
The museum faces a similar problem
w~ith memberships. It now has more
than 6,000 dues-paying members -- a
huge jump from the 900 it had one year
ago - but budget projections called for
more than 10,000 members.
To offset the lower-than-expected
attendance, the museum has trimmed
its operating budget to $4.7 million
from $6.8 million.
The museum, renamed two weeks
0ago in honor of Dr. Charles Wright, the
retired obstetrician who launched the
institution 33 years ago in his medical
offices, has also had successes in its
new $38.4 million home.
Perhaps most visible was when for-
mer Detroit Mayor Coleman Young lay
in state in the museum's glass-domed
rotunda. Thousands of people waited on
long lines outside the museum to pay
their respects to Young.
Museum President Kimberly Camp
says she is buoyed by the first year.
"I think we have raised the bar for
what museums should be to communi-
ties' Camp told the paper.
"There was a lot of concern prior to
this museum opening of it being able
to serve as a community gathering
place, as an exhibition space, as a
place for scholarly discourse, as a
place for school kids to come. There
was the expectation of us being a lot of
things to a lot of different people, and
despite it not being a perfect year, I
think we've been able to accomplish a
lot of that with a fair amount of grace"
she said.
However, some say the museum has
created rifts in the local black commu-
nity.
"This is no longer a self-determined
project of African American people,
says Millard Porter, founder and direc-
tor of Pitch Black Poetry, which pub-
lishes Pitch Black Detroit, an anthology
of Detroit poets.
"We don't feel it to be ours anymore"
said Porter, who also blamed Camp for
paying more attention to corporate
sponsors.
But Camp has her supporters, too.
"Yes, she has some strong ideas;' for-
rner museum board Chair Eugene
Gilmer said. "But that's what we need-
ed. We needed a person who had the
professional expertise and could come
in there and not operate this museum
out of someone's hip pocket."
Even Wright, who admits to having
reservations about the museum's direc-
tion, has become more vocal in his sup-
port.
"This is a different time and a differ-
ent group of people running the muse-
um, and there are bound to be changes,"
Wright said. "Not all of those changes
are bad, but they're not all good, either.
I would hope there is some understand-
ing on the part of the current manage-
ment that there remains a need for some
remedial measures."~
He is most critical about the muse-
um's reliance on traveling, exhibitions
instead of self-made ones.
Business Prof. E. Han Kim discusses Korea's economic probler
present was SangMok Suh, a member of the National Assembl!
Intern-ationgal ex
on KoreV,,.an ecor
The Michigan Daily - Thursday, April 16, 1998 - A
EMILY NATHAN/,Daly
ns at a forum last night at the International Institute. Also
ly of the Republic of Korea.
Lpers speak
iomic crisis
clue of the won, high unemployment rates were~
,urrency, in com- among the consequences.
"encies. For the past seven months, the
igh value, when Korean economy has been struggling
onal panic, Kim to keep its head above water.
Unemployment has risen from
rd of living, the 469,000 at the beginning of the
funemployment downturn to 1,235,000 in February,-
inlpride have and corporate bankruptcy has tripled,
acitizens to clas- over that time period.
a crisis. "If the current interest rates stay for
ce and loss of for- long, Korean corporations will be
rced the Korean wiped out,' Suh said.
vfrom the interna- Suh said the key to turning the sit-
id. Due to the sit- uation around lies in the hands''of
lature, Korea was Korean corporations. He said that if'
noney from the Korean corporations can resolve}
ry Fund at annual "how to deal with unemployment
30 percent. while trying to maintain efficiency"
y' was forced to the situation will improve.
was "a day of Although the numbers have begun'
'or Korea,' said to stabilize in recent months;
member of the investors remain apprehensive about°
)f Korea. Korea's economic future.
coverage of the When asked if Kim, as a foreign
vectors to panic investor, would invest in Korea, he
)ummet. answered with a 'yes.' "We can
a ripple effect. expect high returns if we take high
bankruptcy and risks:'
GM expands rebate offers
DETROIT (AP) - What price is loyalty? For General
Motors Corp., it could run in the millions as it offers rebates
on new cars and trucks to people who bought new GM prod-
ucts as long ado as 1986.
The incentive program, called Loyalty First, is designed to
shore up the No, I automaker's sagging market share with
rebates worth $500 or $1,000. The offers already are going
out to original owners of GM vehicles from the 1986 to 1998
model years.
Valid until June 30, the rebate certificates can be used by
the original buyer, a spouse or children living in the same
household. The rebates also can be used to lease a vehicle but
don't include Saturn models and aren't being offered to
Saturn owners.
The automaker sold about 60 million cars, minivans, sport
utility vehicles and pickup trucks in the United States from
1986 to 1998. How many of those vehicles remain with their
original owners isn't clear, the Detroit Free Press said in a
report yesterday.
GM hasn't estimated the cost of the Loyalty First program,
_but it will fall within the automaker's marketing budget,
spokesperson Donna Fontana said.
,:Loyalty First rebates can be used in conjunction with exist-
ing rebates that already average $1,600 per GM vehicle,
according to industry analyst David Mealy of Burnham
Securities in New York.
"I guess GM was more appalled than we thought by the
28.6-percent market share,' Healy said Tuesday.
GM had 35 percent of the domestic new-vehicle market in
1990. But its market share has fallen every year since then,
bottoming out at 28.6 percent in January and February before
a new round of rebates and low-interest loans on its small cars
raised GM's market share to 32.2 percent for March.
"Owner loyalty programs do work if you want to move
vehicles;' said auto analyst Jim Hall of the research firm
AutoPacific in Southfield.
Mark Montante, general manager of Bill Rowan
Oldsmobile Cadillac in Southgate, agreed with Hall -- and
praised the new program.
"They want to get their" market share up;' he said, "I think
they are moving in the right direction"'
Montante cited the example of a $37,000 Oldsmobile
Aurora - which could be had for as little as $25,000 by
using the Loyalty First rebate, a discount already in place, the
maximum discount on the General Motors credit card and a
$5,500 discount available to GM employees.
By Melissa Andrzejak
Daily Staff Reporter
In response to the instability of the
South Korean economy, Ann Arbor
residents and members of the
University community gathered last
night for a meeting wvith two experts
who have first-hand experience with
the crisis.
The economic downturn that is
plaguing many Asian countries and
worrying U.S. investors hit particular-
ly hard in South Korea.
"This is the biggest recession the
economy in Korea has ever wit-
nessed," said Business Prof. E. Han
Kim, who served as the finance
adviser to the South Korean govern-
ment during the recent negotiations to
resolve Korea's economic crisis.
During September of last year,
while political leaders were busy with
a close presidential election, the
Korean economy took a turn for the
worse when inflation, unemployment
rates and interest rates skyrocketed.
In an act of arbitrage - the buying
and selling of a country's currency for
profit - the Korean government
overestimated the va
the Korean unit of ct
pani son to other curre
The artificially hi
deflated, caused nati
said.
'The lower standar
heightened rates of
and the loss of nati
caused many Korear
sify the situation asa
The financial panic
eign investments for
government to borrow~
tional market, Kim sai
uation's unexpected r
forced to borrow r-
International Monetai
interest rates of up to
When the country
borrow money, it
national disgrace ft
Sang-Mok Suh, a7
National Assembly c
Excessive media
situation caused in'
and stock prices to pl
The events had
Increased corporate
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THE TIMES (THE LONDON TIMES)
Joan Baez has returned with a wonderful album, Gone From Danger.
Gone From Danger finds Joan teaming up with a talented group of young
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to create an album of all-new material which many are calling
THE album of her illustrious-career.
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