Skip Navigation

Come See Where The McKinney Avenue Contemporary Is Headed

ArtandSeek.net 13
new mac big room2edit

Claude Albritton in the ‘Big MAC’s big room. Photo: Jerome Weeks

Tonight, beginning at 6 p.m., the McKinney Avenue Contemporary is holding an open house at what will be its big new digs in the Cedars area. The Austin-based Warren Hood Band will provide the music.

In case you didn’t know the MAC was moving from its Uptown home, here are all the details from our January visit to its sprawling destination, an old brick-and-wood compound built in 1914 as an auto-and-tractor repair shop and dealership. Basically, Uptown has gotten too pricey and high-taxy for the MAC to run a gallery and theater space there — and besides, Uptowners are typically found in the area’s eateries and clubs. They’ve never really supported the MAC’s home company, Kitchen Dog Theater, even though it’s one of the best stage outfits in North Texas.

But whether Kitchen Dog will move to what I shall persist in calling the Big MAC is still up in the air (the question involves timing — the Dog’s new season vs. when the available warehouse space might be ready). And because this little ol’ ‘arts village’ has got just so much space, so many different parts and cool possibilities (offices, galleries, cafes), what it will be (and how it’ll all get phased in over several years) remain open questions.

Which you can discuss tonight — after wandering around the vast rooms and having a few beers and ‘brats.

new mac frontedit