PITTSBURGH, PA.- Carnegie Museums of Pittsburgh announced today that Mario R. Rossero has been named the new director of The Andy Warhol Museum and vice president of Carnegie Museums. Rossero is currently executive director of the National Art Education Association (NAEA), the leading professional membership organization for visual arts, design and media arts educators. Before joining NAEA, he served as senior vice president of education for the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., held a variety of leadership positions in Chicago Public Schools and served as the senior program officer for arts education at Pittsburgh Public Schools. A native of the Pittsburgh region, Rossero began his career as an artist educator at The Warhol and an art teacher at Shaler Area School District. He will join the museum on March 31.
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“This is really a full-circle moment for Mario and The Warhol, where Mario began his career just three years after the museum opened in 1994,” said Steven Knapp, president and CEO of Carnegie Museums. “While taking on increasingly complex leadership roles throughout his impressive career, Mario has maintained a sincere and infectious enthusiasm for the mission of the arts, which includes making innovation and creativity more accessible to all. In each of his roles, he has excelled as a collaborative leader and a community convener, and we’re delighted to welcome him back to Pittsburgh and The Warhol.”
While executive director of the NAEA, which has more than 15,000 members in the United States and 25+ foreign countries, Rossero and his team won an $8.5 million U.S. Department of Education grant to transform arts education in the United States by partnering with music, dance and theater education associations to create collaborative arts learning communities across the country. In his role as senior vice president for education at the Kennedy Center, he led a team of 60 people and 35 programs that reached 1.4 million students and educators worldwide.
Rossero joined the Kennedy Center after serving in a variety of leadership roles with Chicago Public Schools. As chief of core curriculum, he provided leadership and strategy to offer a robust education for all students, including in the fields of literacy, mathematics, science, social science, the arts and global citizenship. As director of arts education, he led the charge to increase access to all art forms, developing for the first time a district-wide Arts Education Plan that encompassed 700 schools and 400,000 students.
“I am thrilled to join The Warhol at this unique moment in time to build upon the museum’s history and look towards a future of increased community engagement and creative innovation, all rooted in Warhol’s art, life and legacy,” Rossero said. “For me this is a homecoming, returning to an institution that played a pivotal role in my early career, shaping my approach and trajectory as an artist, educator and organizational leader. I am excited to share lessons learned from a national lens to invest in the Pittsburgh community and to leverage the opportunity that The Pop District provides for greater sustainability and furthering Warhol’s story and impact.
“The breadth of Warhol’s portfolio—as graphic designer, boundary-pushing artist, filmmaker, music producer and pop culture celebrity—paired with his personal story as a young steel city kid making his way to New York City and the international art world offers so many connections for audiences of all ages, identities and interests,” Rossero added.
“On behalf of the NAEA Board of Directors, we congratulate Mario on his new role as the director of The Andy Warhol Museum,” said Wanda B. Knight, NAEA president. “We value his leadership, vision and commitment to the visual arts, design and media arts education community—especially during his successful tenure at NAEA. We are confident that he will continue to advocate for all artists, educators and learners in the next phase of his career.”
Rossero received a BA in art & education from Washington and Jefferson College and an MSEd in supervision and administration in visual arts from a joint program between Bank Street College of Education and Parsons School of Design.
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