MAC ON THE WAY BACK

29-11-2006

Birmingham's popular Midlands Arts Centre in Canon Hill Park is celebrating today after getting confirmation of an £11.6 million makeover.

MAC gets half a million people through the doors every year, but even its biggest fans would acknowledge that it's looking a bit faded around the edges these days. Plans for a major revamp fell through a couple of years ago after the demise of MG Rover. Not unreasonably, funding agencies at the time decided that there were more urgent priorities - not least helping the thousands of workers who'd lost their jobs at Longbridge.

That left MAC so hard up that earlier this year it closed for a couple of days to allow staff, led by Chief Executive Dorothy Wilson, to give the whole place a fresh lick of paint

The new grant which combines £6.2 million from Birmingham Council and £5.4 from the Arts Council won't create the state of the art centre that was once envisaged, but all the services are being put in now to allow for a significant second phase later.

Not that the first phase won't make a big difference. The public will notice a new riverside entrance, improved bar and café facilities and increased gallery space. Behind the scenes, MAC and the South Asian arts company SAMPAD who are based there will get smart new offices.

Old-timers still talk about the boost MAC gave to the West Midlands arts scene when it opened in the early 60's and although The Stirrer doesn't go that far back, he's had many a happy night at a decent venue run by thoroughly nice people. We're confident that won't change when the facelift is completed in the summer of 2009.