Heidelberg Project president stepping down to lead Maryland art museum

Jenenne Whitfield, president and CEO of Detroit’s iconic art installation, the Heidelberg Task, is leaving to acquire the helm of the American Visionary Art Museum in Baltimore, Maryland.

Whitfield will grow to be the museum’s only second director in its 30-yr heritage. Whitfield, who will get started in September, will succeed Rebecca Alban Hoffberger, the American Visionary Museum’s founding director and main curator.

“We are so very pleased and delighted to have captivated as our new director this kind of a devoted and credentialed creative chief as Jenenne Whitfield who will now guide the American Visionary Artwork Museum forward and construct on the indelible legacy of Founding Director Rebecca Hoffberger,” said Christopher Goelet, board chair of the American Visitory Art Museum, in a push launch.

Whitfield has worked with the Heidelberg Job, which her spouse, Tyree Guyton established, for 27 yrs. A Detroit location, it truly is now identified all over the earth as a a person-of-a-variety art set up.

In a assertion on the Heidelberg Project’s website Wednesday, Whitfield reported she recognized the information that she is stepping down would come as a shock to some, but it can be “time to pass the baton.” 

“So a great deal has been accomplished for the HP in the course of my tenure, nonetheless 1 important piece of the puzzle was recognized in 2021, when the Metropolis of Detroit publicly recognized Guyton/The HP with Detroit’s inaugural Life time Accomplishment Award,” stated Whitfield in a statement. “Immediately after years of controversy, demolitions and fires, the HP is now a everlasting element of Detroit’s abundant cultural fabric.”

Whitfield mentioned she hopes to continue on to serve on the Heidelberg’s board even right after she methods down and a new leader is named. 

“My good friend and lifestyle companion, Tyree will proceed to be a Detroit anchor by continuing his work in Detroit and equally he and I will commute among Baltimore and Detroit,” she wrote. “The eyesight is growing!!”

Whitfield and Guyton first fulfilled in 1993. The initial time Whitfield saw the Heidelberg Project, which Guyton started in the mid-1980s, she rolled down her window and claimed, “What in the hell is all this?” Sitting down on a nearby curb, Guyton told her to get out and examine it out.

“Which is how it begun,” she advised The Detroit Information in 2018.

Whitfield, who has a qualifications in banking, stated the Heidelberg Job is now in the process of building a little something named Heidelberg 3., its upcoming evolution. Whitfield explained the Heidelberg Arts and Management Academy continues to develop and prosper and they have a credit card debt-totally free campus.