MCA Australia Director Elizabeth Ann Macgregor Announces Departure After 22 Years

Elizabeth Ann Macgregor will leave her position as director of the Museum of Contemporary Art Australia later this year. Her tenure, which began in 1999, transformed the institution from near financial collapse into the world's most visited contemporary art museum according to 2019 data. Macgregor secured free admission by renegotiating a Telstra sponsorship deal early in her leadership. She oversaw significant expansion including the National Centre for Creative Learning and maintained a strong focus on Australian contemporary art with particular emphasis on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander artists. Despite pandemic challenges, the museum hosted the 2020 Biennale of Sydney curated by Brook Andrew and a major Lindy Lee retrospective. In August 2020, Macgregor was appointed by the government to lead a creative economy taskforce advising on a $250 million arts bailout package. The director cited the museum's 30th anniversary this year as an appropriate transition point and plans to return to the United Kingdom in October to reunite with family after COVID-19 separations. MCA chairman Lorraine Tarabay praised Macgregor for expertly steering the institution from insolvency. The museum's board has begun searching for her successor.