PRESS RELEASE
The Coby Foundation, the Nation’s Premier Funding Source for Projects in
Fashion and Textiles, Appoints New Executive Director
August 18, 2024
The Board of the Coby Foundation has named Margi Hofer as the Foundation’s second Executive Director, succeeding Ward L.E. Mintz, who is retiring after leading the Foundation for over twenty years. Hofer will take over responsibilities on September 23.
An independent curator focusing on American decorative arts and material culture, Hofer served as Museum Director of the New-York Historical Society from 2015 to 2023 after more than two decades as its curator of decorative arts. She organized or co-organized dozens of important exhibitions at the New-York Historical Society, among them Black Dolls, which explored handmade cloth dolls made primarily by African American women between 1850 and 1940 through the lens of race, gender, and history (2022); Making It Modern: The Folk Art Collection of Elie and Viola Nadelman (2016), an examination of the pioneering folk art collection assembled by the early modern sculptor and his wife; and A New Light on Tiffany: Clara Driscoll and the Tiffany Girls, which revealed the critical contributions of women in the design and fabrication of Tiffany lamps (2007). She also played a leadership role in conceiving the Henry Luce III Center for the Study of American Culture, an open storage facility housing 40,000 objects.
“It’s an honor to build upon Ward’s outstanding work in expanding public appreciation of textiles and the needle arts,” noted Hofer. “Having organized several exhibitions funded by the Coby Foundation, I’m thrilled to lead the organization in its next chapter, encouraging innovative scholarship, engaging exhibitions, and expanded access to this vital art form.”
The Coby Foundation, which is unique in focusing its resources solely on the field of fashion and textiles in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic regions, was initiated through a bequest from Irene Zambelli Silverman (1916-1998). The Foundation funds projects for the public benefit in the arts and humanities, spanning the historical to the contemporary. Recent awards range from a grant to conserve and exhibit a 1901 costume worn by opera star Marcella Sembrich at the museum that honors her in Bolton Landing, New York to a major outdoor installation in Madison Square Park by artist Sheila Pepe. Other funded projects include Syrian Textiles Across Two Millennia at the Katonah Museum of Art in New York and Northern Threads, a two-part exhibition at the Maine Historical Society exploring the history of fashion in the state.
Along with a committed Board led by Dr. Leslie Shanken, Mintz oversaw the distribution of nearly $10 million over his two decades of leadership. Current assets of the Coby Foundation total over $20 million. The Foundation encourages grant applications through its website, www.cobyfoundation.org.