American Visionary Art Museum

Through our original, annual thematic exhibitions, complimentary free educational programs and outreach, free outdoor family movies that can accommodate up to 2,000 on Summer nights, and fulfillment of our 7 Founding Education Goals and Mission as both a Congressionally designated national museum and education center, our AVAM works to inspire greater creative self-reliance, increase awareness and respect for visionary art and thought, and creates a safe and welcoming place for deeper public dialogue, engagement and inspirational delight. AVAM's primary goals each year are to: curate and mount an original thematic 11-month long exhibition; organize and host a free annual public conference to expand the learning kindred to that theme; create and distribute a new and theme bespoke curriculum and classroom activities packet for educators; lead workshops and outreach programs at AVAM and off-site at local libraries and community centers; and execute free public programs including a Martin Luther King, Jr. Day Celebration that attracts 3,000+, mount our annual 15-mile East Coast Kinetic Sculpture Race, hold our patriotic Fourth of July Pet Parade, host our Flicks from the Hill outdoor movie series, and welcome a huge intergenerational sew-in Sock Monkey Saturday workshop.

All of AVAM's programs and workshops reflect our annual exhibition theme and are guided faithfully by our founding Education goals and Mission Statement. The NYC Lower East Side Girls Club was actually founded verbatim with our 7 Education Goals and our materials acts to inspire many educators. Our 1.1 acre urban "wonderland" of a park-like museum campus boast exterior, grand-scale mirrored walls created by incarcerated youth apprentices - the largest such program in the U.S., and creative partnerships with other underserved groups such as the National Federation of The Blind, and various ethnic communities that act to help AVAM keep its programs and events fresh, inclusive and lively, engaging visitors in unforgettable ways.

In twenty-two years we've never opened a show even a day late, we brought in our original buildings on-time and on budget, won high national awards, and then doubled our site 9 years later, again on-time and on-budget. We host over 100 weddings a year, maintain a high level of earned income well above the average, and maintain a clean audit report. We have a board and staff focus on raising an operational endowment, but have no debt on any of our properties or land. Our museum was the first to win the coveted National Award for Excellence from The Urban Land Institute and has consistently earned extraordinarily positive press.

AVAM remains debt-free and committed to offering a unique art experience to all with free admission for Title I students and several free public programs throughout the year. Next, we plan to raise our endowment goal of $25 million; begin phased transition from dynamic founder/director to new leadership; continue to build strong board leadership; consider purchase (in lieu of continued rental) of sufficient for growth art storage; and fund a comprehensive annual catalogue. We also will work to be in a strong fiscal position, sufficient to accept offer of new west coast location to build a full branch of our unique national museum that would only strengthen the reach and collecting/exhibition goals of our Baltimore-based "mothership."