Jenenne Whitfield

Director Ex Offico, Heidelberg Project Board of Directors

President & CEO, The Heidelberg Project

Jenenne Whitfield, D.D., is the president of the critically acclaimed Heidelberg Project (HP) and has worked for the organization for 27 years.  Prior to her involvement with the HP she had a successful career in banking. Then, in 1993, she took a wrong turn and drove down a polka-dotted street– through a colorful chaos of paint and people– and asked a paint-spattered man, “what is all this?” The man was artist Tyree Guyton and what he told her sparked an obsession that changed her life forever.

Under Ms. Whitfield’s direction, The Heidelberg Project (founded by Tyree Guyton) has risen to international status and is currently recognized as one of the most influential art environments in the world. Her leadership and commitment have enabled the project to extend its reach by participating in joint projects with museums, universities and other organizations throughout the world. Together, Whitfield and Guyton coined and trademarked the idiom, Heidelberg-ology, defined as the study of discarded materials incorporated into the fabric and structure of an urban community and the effects on that community.  Under Whitfield’s leadership, the work of the HP spans six continents and has collected over 27 awards, locally, nationally and internationally.

In addition to her role as executive director for the Heidelberg Project, Whitfield lectures regularly, has taught courses at Wayne State University and the University of Michigan on art as a social practice, and serves as a mentor to the next generation of art thinkers and activists.  She is also co-founder of a new art collective in Detroit called United Artists of Detroit (UAD).  However, her first love is metaphysics which she has studied for over 35 years.