Find the perfect gift with our Gift Vouchers
Through art, we address pressing local and global issues, advocating for a society where people and the planet are respected and cared for. Our work is deeply rooted in collaboration, creativity, and social change, ensuring that art remains a powerful tool for education, activism, and engagement.
Growing Up with the MAC offers babies, children, families, carers, and young people creative opportunities to imagine. We believe everyone has the right to grow up with art, so our creative ecosystems continue to grow with people as passionate about art as we are.
We work with artists whose art practice and research are based on the development of children and young people. We offer a year-round programme of bespoke workshops and events which invite children to play and think about the world we live in. We explore social inequalities such as housing rights, wellbeing and address global issues like migration and climate change, and we explore the issues and art presented in our galleries.
We run regular children’s workshops every month, including booked and drop-in sessions, exploring mediums from ceramics to animation to theatre. The programme is curated by our Children’s Artist in Residence. You can see our current available workshops on our What’s On page.
The MAC also offers opportunities for primary and secondary schools to engage with our exhibitions and yearly Christmas show, including school visits and subsidised transportation.
New Visions is a new 3-year programme in which we work with six secondary school art departments, aiming to support teachers and students, explore new approaches to art teaching, and demonstrate the value of arts education.
The programme has 4 main stages:
1. ArtistTeacher Fellowships – 1 ArtistTeacher from each school undertakes professional development opportunities funded by the MAC, furthering their artistic practice and exploring new teaching methods which they can bring back and implement in the classroom.
2. MAC Schools in Residence – ArtistTeachers will bring a class group to the MAC and hold class in our building. Students will have the opportunity to explore our galleries, learn from MAC curators and staff, and collaborate creatively in a non-hierarchical, non-authoritarian, non-classroom environment.
3. MAC School Satellites – An artist paired with each school will visit to collaborate with students and the ArtistTeacher on a project co-designed with the ArtistTeacher, students and school community for 10 days each year including preparation, planning and facilitation.
4. End of Year Event – we will present our learnings and work in a conference at the end of year one and year two, and in an exhibition at the MAC in the final year which explores new visions for teaching art education.
New Visions is generously supported by the Freelands Foundation.
MACtivate is an arts-based programme committed to creating a more just society by addressing today’s most urgent issues. Socially engaged artists, community partners and people with lived experience are at the centre of our work. Together, we employ art to address local / global issues, and we campaign for a better society where people and the planet are cared for and respected.
We work in partnership with Action Mental Health: who change the lives of those living with mental ill health; Participation & Practice of Rights (PPR): who promote human rights for people in the asylum, system, those living in housing stress, and people living with mental ill health; Extern: who supports people impacted by homelessness, suicide & addiction; Alliance for Choice: who campaign for an end to the harassment of users of reproductive services; The Rainbow Project: who support lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer people to improve well-being; Anaka Women’s Collective: led by women with direct experience of the asylum system. They use their collective skills to educate, advocate for and celebrate women in the face of an oppressive immigration system; Start 360: who provide a range of support for women who have been in custody or had contact with the criminal justice system.
We are focused on: addressing the need for social housing; advocating for the rights of people in the asylum system; finding creative solutions to the mental health crisis; championing LGBTQIA rights, supporting people recovering from addition; visualising a better health system where reproductive rights are respected.
Although our work is based in Belfast we are part of a wider movement which calls for human rights for all people. We are anti-racism, and against hatred and violence.
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipisici elit, sed eiusmod tempor incidunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Praeterea iter est quasdam res quas ex communi. Mercedem aut nummos unde unde extricat, amaras. Inmensae subtilitatis, obscuris et malesuada fames.
Salutantibus vitae elit libero, a pharetra augue. Fabio vel iudice vincam, sunt in culpa qui officia. Vivamus sagittis lacus vel augue laoreet rutrum faucibus. Ambitioni dedisse scripsisse iudicaretur. Cras mattis iudicium purus sit amet fermentum.
Morbi fringilla convallis sapien, id pulvinar odio volutpat. Nihil hic munitissimus habendi senatus locus, nihil horum? Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation. Pellentesque habitant morbi tristique senectus et netus. Sed haec quis possit intrepidus aestimare tellus. Prima luce, cum quibus mons aliud consensu ab eo.
