By: Archana Ramanujam
ROTTERDAM (REUTERS).- Rotterdam’s Wereldmuseum plans to sell its African and American treasures to cover funding shortfalls made more likely by the economic crisis in Europe and a planned cut in state subsidies to the arts starting in 2013. It is one of several Dutch museums under pressure to raise money from the public purse, and ideas being explored have ranged from “adopting” star exhibits to opening a hotel on the premises. “We are going to sell the entire Africa collection and the Americas collection, and will only keep the top pieces in the rest of our collection so we can focus on Asian art,” said Stanley Bremer, director at Wereldmuseum. “The money we raise we will put in the bank,” he told Reuters. “If you are alert to the situation in Europe, you can see there could be a problem in five or six years’ time. So either we can sit back or we can make a plan and our plan is to raise money to be