A founding member of the MAC venue in Belfast has said Northern Ireland’s arts sector cannot endure more funding cuts as she steps down after 27 years in charge.
Chief Executive Anne McReynolds led the transformation from the small Old Museum Arts Centre to the MAC, which now welcomes over 2.8 million visitors and artists each year.
Now moving on “to pursue her next challenge,” the MAC’s board of trustees said that commercial director Áine McVerry and Director of Finance and Corporate Services, Paul McIlwaine, will also stand down next year.
Ms McReynolds said she was “immensely proud” of what her team had created with the MAC despite many challenges including closures during the pandemic and a steadily declining arts budget.
“Leading the MAC team in pursuit of our shared vision has been enormously professionally fulfilling,” she said.
“I will always believe that the arts have the potential to play a key role in making Northern Ireland a successful place.”
She said changing the minds of visitors who felt the arts was not for them was among her favourite memories.
“I will always remember the young boy who told me that the MAC show he’d just seen had been ‘better than X-box’.
“This is why the MAC was created - for all the people of Northern Ireland.”
Since opening in 2012, the MAC has contributed £14m to the local economy and has twice been shortlisted for the prestigious Museum of the Year prize, but Ms McRenolds said it was “a matter of great regret” that despite the efforts of those in the arts sector, investment had been cut each year to the point where it had “plummeted to the point where only 0.06% of Northern Ireland’s budget in 2021/22 was invested in our people’s creativity.”
“I sincerely hope that will be remedied in the future. I’ve always known that the MAC will outlive us all. It’s now simply my time to hand over the baton.”