Rebecca Alban Hoffberger

Rebecca Alban Hoffberger was born in a suburb of Baltimore, Maryland to Allen, a mechanical engineer, and Peggy Alban, a homemaker.[2]

Hoffberger is the Founder and Director Emeritus (October 2022) of the American Visionary Art Museum (AVAM).[3] A life-long devotee of the power of intuition and fresh thought, Hoffberger was accepted into college at age 15,[4] though chose instead the personal invitation of internationally renowned mime Marcel Marceau, to become his first American apprentice in Paris. By 19, Hoffberger had co-founded her own ballet company and by 21, was a sought-after consultant to a broad spectrum of nonprofits, including research and development scientific companies. At 25, Hoffberger was awarded the title of “Dame” for her work to establish medical field hospitals in Nigeria. She studied alternative and folk medicine in Mexico. Returning to the States, Hoffberger served on the Board of the Elisabeth Kubler-Ross Center in Virginia and worked as Development Director at the Sinai Hospital’s Department of Psychiatry for People Encouraging People, where she first conceived her unique national visionary museum/education center.[5]

In recognition of distinguished achievement in the museum field, Hoffberger was awarded the 2011 Katherine Coffey Award by the Mid-Atlantic Association of Museums.[6] Hoffberger has received Honorary Doctorates from the Maryland Institute College of Art, Stevenson University, Pennsylvania College of Art and Design, and McDaniel College, as well as awarded Loyola College's Andrew White Award—the school’s highest civic honor—the College of Notre Dame Sarah's Circle Award, and was selected as Franklin & Marshall College's Conrad Nelson Lecturer. She is an inductee into the Maryland Women's Hall of Fame,[7] a winner of the Urban Land Institute's National Award for Excellence, [8] Israel Bonds' Golda Meir Award, and the first recipient of the Sir Arthur C. Clarke Vision and Imagination Award.

Among many honors in recognition of her human rights activism, Hoffberger has won the On Our Own mental health national anti-stigma Visionary Award, the Urban League's Whitney M. Young, Jr. Honoree for Outstanding Community Involvement & Support for Equal Opportunity, Maryland YWCA President's Award, and was principal curator celebrating playwright Eve Ensler's BIG LOVE New Orleans 10th Anniversary of “The Vagina Monologues” that had raised $50 million to help global women antiviolence programs. Hoffberger's Seven Education Goals provided the founding mission for the Lower Eastside Girls Club, in New York City. She has been an international keynote conference speaker at the Tate Modern and at India's Rock Garden.

Her more recent honors include the prestigious Visionary Award from the American Folk Art Museum in 2017,[9] the 2019 Images and Voices of Hope Journalism Award, induction into the Baltimore Jewish Hall of Fame,[10] and the 2019 Roger D. Redden Award from the Baltimore Architecture Foundation for her “significant role and many accomplishments in advancing Baltimore’s built environment and cultural community through the American Visionary Art Museum.”.[11] The Maryland Daily Record bestowed Hoffberger with an Icon Award in 2020, and Visit Baltimore presented her with the 2021 William Donald Schaefer Visionary Tourism Award. In March of 2022 the Baltimore Sun inducted Hoffberger into its Business and Civic Hall of Fame, and in September of 2022, EU Ambassador to The US, Stavros Lambrinidis, presented her with the new Keys to the European Union Award. In 2023, she received the World Trade Center Institute’s Governor’s Visionary Leadership Award.

The titles to Hoffberger’s exhibitions sum up beautifully both her personal philosophy and passion, including: “Healing and the Art of Compassion (And the Lack Thereof!),” "ALL FAITHS BEAUTIFUL: From Atheism to Zoroastrianism, Respect for Diversity of Belief," "The Marriage of Art, Science & Philosophy," and "Race, Class & Gender: Three things that contribute '0' to CHARACTER, because being a schmuck is an equal opportunity for everyone!”

After working with patients at Sinai Hospital’s “People Encouraging People” program, Hoffberger became focused on developing her idea of a "visionary museum”—a facility that would specialize in showcasing the work of self-taught, "visionary" artists, and serve as an education center that emphasized intuitive, creative invention. While developing the idea for the museum, Hoffberger visited Jean Dubuffet’s Collection de l’Art Brut in Lausanne, Switzerland, accompanied by her future husband, LeRoy E. Hoffberger, who eventually became the museum co-founder. During this visit, Rebecca was greatly impressed by Dubuffet’s use of "non art-speak," along with personal artist bios that emphasized the simple facts of the artists' lives, their creative visions, and the use of the artist’s own words. Upon returning to Baltimore, Hoffberger collaborated with the George Ciscle Gallery in Baltimore to mount two successful shows, the first of which featured matchstick artist Gerald Hawkes.[12]

In February 1989, the American Visionary Art Museum (AVAM) was incorporated as a 501(c)3 non-profit organization. The City of Baltimore offered the organization exclusive development rights on the property located at 800 Key Highway—formerly the 1913 offices to the Baltimore Copper Paint Company and an adjacent historic whiskey warehouse—contingent on design, neighborhood approval and obtaining full project funding. Hoffberger began fundraising efforts and received an initial $250,000 planning grant from USF&G, soon followed by a cumulative $2.4 million challenge grant from the Zanvyl & Isabelle Krieger Foundation, matched by many generous private and public grants, along with $1.3 million in bonds issued by The State of Maryland to finance the construction. Otto Billig, M.D. and Edward Adamson (the first proponent of art therapy in Britain) each gifted their important research archives and library collections to AVAM (Billig gifted the museum 400 pieces of art created by mental patients). This same year, Rebecca and LeRoy Hoffberger were married. In 1992, additional contributions for the museum came from The Body Shop founder Anita Roddick and Gordon Roddick. In 1995, LeRoy sold his collection of German Expressionist art via Christie’s to top off final monies needed for the museum, a gift that would ensure that the museum could open debt-free.

On November 24, 1995, the American Visionary Art Museum opened to the public. In her inaugural address, Hoffberger stated that “...the American Visionary Art Museum opens its doors of perception not in an effort to make war on academic or institutionalized learning, but to create a place where the best of self-taught, intuitive contributions of all kinds will be duly recognized, explored, and then championed in a clear strong voice."[13] This statement is echoed in the museum’s Seven Education Goals, penned by Hoffberger, which serve as part of the museum’s mission to function as an education center for “visionary art.” These goals were also adopted by The Lower East Side Girls Club when it was founded in 1996.

AVAM has remained true to its founding cornerstone statement, as defined by Hoffberger, that, “Creative acts of social justice constitute life’s highest performance art.” [14]

In 1998, Hoffberger was elected and served as a member of the Baltimore City Chamber of Commerce. The previous year, she won The Urban Land Institute’s coveted National Award for Excellence, and in 1996, she received the prestigious Gold Meir Award from Israel Bonds.[2] In addition to Honorary Doctorates from McDaniel College, Pennsylvania College of Art and Design, Stevenson University, and Maryland Institute College of Art, Hoffberger was awarded the title of “Dame” for her work on behalf of establishing medical field hospitals in Nigeria.[5] She has been the recipient of numerous mental health advocacy and equal opportunity awards and has served as a Director of Jewish Education and on the Board of The Elisabeth Kubler-Ross Center, and has also been a featured speaker at many events, including 2009‘s TEDxMidAtlantic.[18]

American Visionary Art Museum (AVAM) is a Congressionally-designated national museum and education center dedicated to intuitive, self-taught artistry. AVAM champions the role intuition plays in creative invention and evolutionary innovation of all sort — be it in the field of art, science, health/wellbeing, engineering, humor, or philosophy, and especially in inspiring compassionate and creative acts of social justice and betterment.

At the time of the museum’s 1995 opening, it was reported that Hoffberger’s rejection of academic scholarship and her refusal to follow tradition had upset prominent members of the art world. She was criticized for her lack of interest in conventional art history and conventional museum practices.

Despite all this, the museum has won the support of collectors, critics, and the public through its exhibitions that examine the relationship of art to the human condition rather than to the canon of art history. Hoffberger’s exhibitions were thematic in nature and explored ancient and modern philosophy as told through art.[19]

The National Endowments for the Arts wrote that "one of the reasons that Hoffberger believes her museum has become so successful is because of its accessibility. “I had the greatest edge of not going through an art history education,” Hoffberger said. “You don’t want to write for your peers who went through the same linguistic educational system. You want to think about how you express and make connections with regular people walking in the door.”"[20]