[intro]Cleveland Gets Permission to Use Funds[/intro]

The LA Times’s Culture Monster pointed us to this item from the Cleveland Plain Dealer about the Cleveland Museum of Art and its hope  to use money ear-marked for acquisitions to underwrite the continuing expansion plans:

Permission to deviate from the original purposes of  two funds from the museum’s endowment and two outside trusts was granted Wednesday by Judge Anthony J. Russo in Cuyahoga County Probate Court.

Russo said the museum may draw an annual minimum of $5,498,000 from the four art-purchase funds — a figure based on this year’s total draw. By providing income — not from the principal — for the construction project at an annual draw of 49.99 percent, the original purpose of the funds will be maintained through an allocation of 50.01 percent for the purchase of art.

Janet Ashe, the museum’s deputy director of administration and treasurer, said the museum could begin drawing next month.

Cleveland Museum of Ar Can Use Restricted Endowment Income for Construction Project (Plain-Dealer)