GPAC Announces New Board Members

Greater Pittsburgh Arts Council announces new members to its Board of Directors - GPAC continues to strengthen and connect arts and culture leadership

PITTSBURGH, PA - The Greater Pittsburgh Arts Council welcomes new members to its Board of Directors: Deb Acklin, President and CEO of WQED Multimedia; Maureen Rolla, Deputy Director of the Carnegie Museum of Art; and Eric Shiner, Director, The Andy Warhol Museum. The Greater Pittsburgh Arts Council,  a member organization comprised of approximately 270 artists and arts and culture organizations, drives key political, financial, and professional support for the entire Greater Pittsburgh arts community, led by a board of directors of 23 diverse arts leaders from across the region.

Shares Mitch Swain, CEO of GPAC:  “We’re very fortunate to have an increasingly broad base of community participation on our board of directors. Their leadership increases our understanding of the region and our ability to be a stronger advocate and supporter of arts and culture.”   Greater Pittsburgh Arts Council, serving the entire Southwestern PA region, is the leading advocate for the region’s arts and culture communities.  With its diverse and broad membership comprised of both non-profit organizations and individual artists, GPAC galvanizes the community through well-timed advocacy at the state-level; supports the community through grants, technical support and training; and positions the arts as an important player in the economic and cultural vitality of our region.  Recent highlights include hosting over 1,000 arts delegates for the annual Americans for the Arts convention, and releasing an important study highlighting the critical role the arts play in job creation and economic vitality, the Arts, Culture, and Economic Prosperity report.

Bios for new GPAC Board Members:

Eric Shiner, a leading authority on Andy Warhol and scholar of contemporary Japanese art, is the Director of The Andy Warhol Museum, the most comprehensive single-artist museum in the world.   At The Warhol Museum, Shiner organized Factory Direct: Pittsburgh, an exhibition that showcased the artwork of 14 established contemporary artists invited to conduct artist residencies in Pittsburgh-based factories.  In addition, Shiner led The Warhol team in creating Andy Warhol: 15 Minutes Eternal, the largest traveling exhibition of Warhol artwork in Asia, as well as the first retrospective of appropriation artist Deborah Kass, titled Before and Happily Ever After.  In 2013, Shiner curated Armory Focus: USA at The Armory Show, which presented a broad snapshot of the country’s contemporary cultural practice.    Hailing from New Castle, PA, Shiner received a Bachelor of Philosophy in The History of Art & Architecture and Japanese Language & Literature from The University of Pittsburgh Honors College in 1994, an M.A. in The History of Art from Osaka University in 2001, and an M.A. in The History of Art from Yale in 2003.

Maureen Rolla has been deputy director of Carnegie Museum of Art since 1999, where her portfolio of supervisory responsibilities has included financial management, marketing, publications, technology, and web and digital media. She plays an integral role in fundraising, planning, and managing large cross-departmental projects. As of October 2013, she will assume the newly created position of director of strategic initiatives for Carnegie Museums, planning and managing the development of projects and initiatives among the four museums and a variety of external partners, and will lead and support efforts to implement CMP’s strategic priorities. From 1992 to 1999, Maureen was the administrative director of the Getty Leadership Institute, an internationally-known program of the J. Paul Getty Trust that offers executive education programs for managers from museums and related professions. Previously, she was the associate director of admissions and, subsequently, assistant dean for student affairs at Columbia University’s Graduate School of Business.  A native Pittsburgher, Maureen has bachelor’s degree from Carnegie Mellon University and a master’s from Columbia University.

Deborah Acklin is president and chief executive officer of WQED Multimedia, the nation's first community-owned public media company, also known worldwide as "Mister Rogers' station". Ms. Acklin has served in multiple executive roles in public broadcasting, the cable television industry, and commercial broadcasting. At WQED Multimedia, she manages or has managed the operations, strategies, and fundraising to create original multi-platform content distributed across television, radio, an interactive Web-based learning channel, an interactive global media distribution portal, an education department, a publishing division, and PBS, NPR and their member stations. Her tenure includes many achievements, including two consecutive Mid-Atlantic Emmy Awards for Station Excellence. She also helped launch the first public television channel in Bermuda (CTV). Ms. Acklin's own work has been honored with many awards and is a sought-after speaker and frequent guest on radio and television programs, including Charlie Rose. She is active in the community on a variety of arts and education boards and advisory boards.  Ms. Acklin earned a B.A. from Duquesne University and attended Harvard Business School where she completed the prestigious Advanced Management Program.