The MAC
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This major venue in Belfast’s cathedral quarter houses extensive gallery space alongside a dance studio, theatres and workshop rooms.
As Northern Ireland's leading art centre and a key driver in Belfast's regeneration, the MAC aims to improve Northern Ireland for everyone by inspiring creativity and championing the power of the arts. Since opening to the public in 2012, the MAC has brought an ambitious programme of international contemporary art to a local audience, featuring significant exhibitions by the likes of Kara Walker, Felix Gonzelez-Torres and David Hockney.
Committed to their civic and cultural responsibility as a major arts institution, they run the MACtivate programme, which creates opportunities for collaboration with some of the most marginalised people in their community, drawing attention to key issues such as housing, the wellbeing of LGBTQIA+ people and reproductive rights.
The design for the MAC, fully named the Metropolitan Arts Centre, was chosen following an open call for submissions from architects across the world. Practices in Japan, the USA, Australia and England applied, but it was local Belfast-based firm Hackett Hall McKnight who were appointed to lead the task. The striking seven-storey building features a glazed tower, an open atrium and three art galleries.
