Carnegie Magazine | Spring 2010

Spring 2010

As Andy Warhol so rightfully advised, change doesn’t just happen. You make it happen.

Andy Warhol once said, “They say that time changes things, but you actually have to change them yourself.” That’s a sentiment we’ve definitely taken to heart at Carnegie Museums. Especially over the past decade, our family of museums has achieved a great many positive changes—from the reinventions of Dinosaur Hall, Hillman Hall of Minerals and Gems, the Ailsa Mellon Bruce Galleries, and the Scaife Galleries, to the birth of roboworld™ and, most recently, the rebirth of Highmark SportsWorks^® at Carnegie Science Center, which opened in December 2009.

These and other brick-and-mortar changes of the past 10 years have served to not only revitalize the visitor experience at our museums, but energize the cultural and educational landscape of the region, as well. As the region’s largest and most far-reaching cultural organization, that’s a role we relish. We fulfill it by exploiting our tremendous physical assets, and also by forming meaningful relationships with other innovators and thought leaders from all walks of life.

You’ll read about just such a partnership in a story about Pittsburgh’s leaders in the fascinating field of regenerative medicine and their work with the Science Center team to create an exhibit that reveals the real-life promise of this seemingly out-of-this-world science. Also in this issue of the magazine, you’ll learn about The Warhol’s expansive new film and video installation, the result of relationships the museum has forged the world over as the definitive keeper of the flame that is the unique artistic vision of Andy Warhol.

So, how do we keep it all going through the next decade—the growth, the collaborative leadership, the positive change? Warhol Director Tom Sokolowski asked that question, and many others, of an interesting group of thoughtful Pittsburghers that he assembled to talk about the future of the museum. He did it in honor of The Warhol’s first 15 years, which the museum will officially celebrate this May, and the meeting produced a free-form discussion of what might be for a museum already known for taking risks and looking well beyond the expected.

We’re currently doing the same thing, albeit it through a much more formal process, for the entire Carnegie Museums organization by way of strategic planning. How can we reinforce, maybe even redefine, our relevance? How can we further exploit our assets—not just our buildings and collections but the invaluable intellectual assets of our esteemed scientists,
curators, and educators? Last, but certainly not least, what changes can we make to strengthen the relationships we enjoy among our own four museums?

As Andy Warhol so rightfully advised, change doesn’t just happen. You make it happen.

It’s now a new decade at Carnegie Museums of Pittsburgh, and we look forward—with great anticipation—to all that we’ll make happen, together.

David M. Hillenbrand, President
Carnegie Museums of Pittsburgh

Also in this issue:

I Just Want to Watch · The Next 15 · Regenerative Medicine: A Growing Future · Run, bounce, spin, climb— and learn! · NewsWorthy · Face Time: Heather White · Science & Nature: Our Super-sized World · Artistic License · About Town: Asking Andy · The Big Picture