PITTSBURGH, PA.- Carnegie Museums of Pittsburgh today announced that Tom Sokolowski will resign as director of The Andy Warhol Museum at the end of this year. Sokolowski became the museum’s director in 1996 after serving as director of New York University’s Grey Art Gallery & Study Center.

Sokolowski assumed the role of director of The Andy Warhol Museum two years after the museum’s opening. During his tenure, The Warhol rebranded itself as “More than a Museum” and became known for being a center of community dialogue through its constantly changing exhibitions, its thoughtful educational programming targeted to the city’s youth, its renowned performance-art series, “Off the Wall,” and live musical performances.

Under Sokolowski’s leadership, The Warhol also set out to extend the museum’s reach internationally, through traveling exhibitions created by Warhol staff in partnership with museums, corporations, and governments throughout the world. Over the past 10 years, The Warhol estimates that more than six million people have seen the art and experienced the pop sensibility of Andy Warhol through the museum’s traveling exhibitions and international partnerships.

“Tom saw beyond what could have been the limitations of a single-artist museum and led The Warhol in many fascinating directions,” said David Hillenbrand, president of Carnegie Museums of Pittsburgh.

“Regionally, The Warhol is now known for its gutsy programming, its thoughtful outreach, and its willingness to lead as well as partner. Internationally, the museum is known as the definitive resource for everything Warhol and an enthusiastic collaborator on exhibitions that bring the work of Andy Warhol to the world, which has an insatiable appetite for Andy Warhol. Tom has also assembled an incredible team of talented individuals who are devoted to carrying out the museum’s mission.”

“Tom has led this museum for 14 years with great heart and passion, and he’ll be greatly missed,” said Randy Dearth, chair of The Andy Warhol Museum Board. “He has, in fact, turned The Warhol into ‘more than a museum,’ and I know he looks forward, as we all do, to see what the museum will be up to in the next 14 years.”

Sokolowski will remain in his post through December 31, as Carnegie Museums begins a search for a new director of The Andy Warhol Museum.

Carnegie Museums of Pittsburgh is a collection of four distinctive museums: Carnegie Museum of Art, Carnegie Museum of Natural History, Carnegie Science Center, and The Andy Warhol Museum. In 2009, the museums reached 1.2 million people through exhibitions, educational programs, outreach activities, and special events.