Detroit's City Council on Thursday unanimously approved a transfer of city-owned art and other assets at the Detroit Institute of Arts to a charitable trust as part of a proposal to protect the art from being sold off in the city's bankruptcy case.

"Protecting the art is huge," Councilman Scott Benson said. "The fact that the city is losing assets doesn't excite me, but we also have to look at the bigger picture with this."

The transfer of DIA art is part of the so-called "grand bargain," an $816 million deal that helps reduce pension cuts for Detroit retirees.