While nearly everyone appreciates the arts on some level, not everyone is in a position to support the arts to the extent that is needed, which is why Baryn Futa is trying to pick up the slack and take on as much of the responsibility that he can. While he sees the arts as a great cause that benefits all of society, he also sees it as a profitable and useful investment. Baryn Futa feels the arts serves as a defining part of any culture; a touchstone to preserve a society for the ages. That makes them important enough to leave them to our descendents.
From Baryn Futa’s persepective, the art of the past puts us in touch with our ancestors in a way that nothing else can, and we owe it to our descendants to preserve as much of that as possible for the future. That makes art and art museums extremely important. Although Baryn Futa didn’t always have such a deep appreciation for the arts – he really didn’t understand art until he retired and began working with the Denver Art Museum – he is making up for lost time.
Baryn Futa used his time at the DAM to cultivate his love of the arts and art history by attending art fairs and museum exhibitions and anything else he could find. He also attended numerous arts classes and started his own art collection, which has grown to be very extensive and impressive. Now, Baryn Futa holds memberships in a great number of prominent art museums with impressive collections of their own, including The Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Guggenheim, and The Jewish Museum. He also routinely loans pieces from his own collection to museums because he wants more people to appreciate the arts as much as he does.