The Andy Warhol Museum has a new executive director, and he’s a Pittsburgh native who started his career at the museum nearly three decades ago.
Mario R. Rossero, who currently heads the National Art Education Association, will begin his tenure at The Warhol March 31, the Carnegie Museums of Pittsburgh announced Wednesday.
Rossero first worked at The Warhol as an arts educator starting in 1997, not long after it opened. He remained at the museum for seven years, and later held jobs including art teacher at Shaler Area School District, senior program officer for arts education at Pittsburgh Public Schools, and various leadership positions with the Chicago Public Schools.
In 2015, he became the senior vice-president for education at the prestigious Kennedy Center for Performing Arts, in Washington, D.C., where he led a team of 60 people and 35 programs that reached students and educators around the world. In 2020, Rossero was hired as executive director of the NAEA, a professional group for visual arts, design and media-arts educators that has more than 15,000 members in more than two dozen countries.
In a statement released by The Warhol, 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.”
As executive director, Rossero succeeds Patrick Moore, who left the museum in May after seven years in the role. Rachel Baron-Horn is currently serving as interim executive director.
In a statement, Carnegie Museums president and CEO Steven Knapp said, “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. 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.”
The Warhol, one of the four Carnegie Museums of Pittsburgh, is one of the world’s largest museums devoted to a single artist. In addition to documenting and celebrating the legacy of Pittsburgh native Andy Warhol, since 2022 the museum has also overseen the Pop District, an ambitious initiative to remake its corner of the North Side with workforce-development programs, public art and a planned concert and event venue.
The museum has a budget of about $10 million and is among the city’s biggest tourist draws, welcoming some 150,000 visitors a year.
