COVID-19 Update (June)
It’s been three months since we closed our doors to ensure the safety of our staff, artistic partners and customers, and in doing so, we have truly missed everything that makes the MAC experience so special. However, we know that our closure has helped our community tackle the Coronavirus together, staying at home, staying safe, yet keeping creativity alive in our homes.
One of the more positive consequences from staying at home during the pandemic has truly been this outpouring of creativity among so many – young and old, professionals and amateurs, all turning to art to express themselves and to reflect on our shared experience of life in lockdown.
With that in mind, we are excited to let you know about a special exhibition we plan to host as part of our reopening programme once further restrictions have been lifted.
During the pandemic, the rainbow has become a symbol for many families to show support for NHS workers on the frontline, with artworks proudly displayed in windows and doors of homes across the country. Aiming to harness your active participation and appreciation of art and creativity, we’re calling on all lockdown Leonardos to 'Save those Rainbows' so that they can be displayed in our galleries alongside works of professional artists.
We feel that we have a unique opportunity as an institution to publicly acknowledge those who have continued to work tirelessly on the front line through this time of lockdown, whilst supporting and celebrating the next generation of artists and creatives.
We’d love as many children from across the island of Ireland to take part, so please post your Rainbows to us now – you can find more information on how to do that here.
During this time, we have also been surveying our past visitors, ensuring that we’re taking their feedback on board as we make decisions over the next few weeks and months. Like us, they’ve been missing the buzz of live events, spending that quality time with friends and family over a coffee in our Café Bar and taking a browse around our galleries. Our team are working hard to take the survey results into consideration – here’s a few things we’ve been prioritising:
Social distancing is important for both our audience and our staff: We are currently working on a way to safely manage audiences and visitors around the building, considering everything from capacity, ticketing, queuing, seating and movement around the space.
Flexibility when booking tickets: If an event is cancelled, we automatically contact you with your refund options but we're working on how we can make this more flexible when we reopen to give that extra assurance.
Staying true to our pricing promise: You told us you'd rather we didn't increase our ticket prices when we reopen, so we won't. We'll keep our pricing promise, continue to reward early booking, but will rely on your donations to help bridge the gap for our financial recovery.
We have just begun a second phase of surveying to help us understand more about what you need from us when we do reopen, so if you’d like to take part, click here to let us know.
