The longtime leader of the statewide arts organization Hawaii Arts Alliance has retired and passed the reins of the nonprofit to a University of Hawaii graduate and former education specialist from the National Endowment for the Arts.

Hawaii Arts Alliance announced Thursday that its CEO of 24 years, Marilyn Cristofori, has retired.

Taking over is Terry Liu, a graduate of UH’s ethnomusicology program who worked for the NEA from 1990 to 2017.

Cristofori, a former professor of dance, led Hawaii Arts Alliance since 1994 and is credited with growing the nonprofit from a “fledgling operation to a nationally recognized arts organization.”

The alliance was founded in 1980 and serves as a statewide intermediary and advocate for arts supported by 1,840 individual members and 145 organizations.

Accomplishments by the organization include obtaining federal grant money for the Kakaako street festival Pow! Wow! Hawaii, leading the formation of downtown Honolulu arts collective The Arts at Marks Garage and helping integrate a student-centered whole-school arts program called Turnaround Arts Hawaii at three elementary schools — Kalihi Kai, Kamaile and Waianae — with an aim to make it a statewide model.