Office of Arts, Culture and the Creative Economy Art Collection Safeguards Fiscal Year 2014


Audit Date: February 26, 2014
Audit Categories
  • Performance
Controller: Alan Butkovitz
Audit Tags
  • Art,
  • Arts and Culture,
  • Culture and the Creative Economy,
  • Inventory,
  • Office of Arts

Executive Summary


For Immediate Release:
February 26, 2014

Contact: Brian Dries
215-686-8869

Butkovitz Identifies Damaged, Vandalized & Missing City Artwork
City Controller’s audit calls for better oversight to safeguard City’s art collection

Office of Arts, Culture, and the Creative Economy –
Art Collection Safeguards Fiscal 2014

PHILADELPHIA – City Controller Alan Butkovitz today released a performance audit of the Office of Arts, Culture and the Creative Economy that found the city does not adequately maintain its more than 1,000-piece artwork collection.

A review of the city’s Art Collection Manual, which is intended to outline policies to properly safeguard the collection, revealed it did not include procedures for loaning, relocation, valuing and cataloging individual art pieces.

“Without an adequate record management system, art pieces could be in jeopardy of theft or loss or damaged without management’s knowledge,” said Butkovitz.

Out of the 25 art pieces selected for observation, auditors found that half, 13, were either damaged, vandalized, unable to be positively identified, could not be located, or failed to be accurately identified as to the location in the inventory listing. This included a painting at the Whitman Branch Library by well-known Philadelphia watercolorist Howard Watson that was damaged with holes punched in each corner of the painting.

“It’s disheartening that a painting by one of Philadelphia’s own was ruined because there were no procedures in place to protect it,” said Butkovitz.

Additional audit findings included the following:
• The inventory listing did not identify the value of each art piece, making it difficult to determine the cost benefit of maintaining each individual piece.
• Periodic physical observations by the city have not been performed in more than a decade.
• The inventory listing did not accurately identify the location of each individual art piece and its current condition.

“The Art Manual needs to include a process for conducting periodic site visits on a rolling basis, at least every five years,” said Butkovitz. “Additionally, the City needs to value all art pieces to determine the priority for repairing and to evaluate the need for insurance.”

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Photos of the damaged Howard Watson paintings