Elizabeth Ann Macgregor is a

curator A curator (from la, cura, meaning "to take care") is a manager or overseer. When working with cultural organizations, a curator is typically a "collections curator" or an "exhibitions curator", and has multifaceted tasks dependent on the parti ...

and art historian who was director of the

Museum of Contemporary Art Museum of Contemporary Art (often abbreviated to MCA, MoCA or MOCA) may refer to: Africa * Museum of Contemporary Art (Tangier), Morocco, officially le Galerie d'Art Contemporain Mohamed Drissi Asia East Asia * Museum of Contemporary Art Shangha ...

(MCA) in

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

, Australia from 1999 until October 2021.

Early life and education

Born in

Dundee Dundee (; sco, Dundee; gd, Dùn Dè or ) is Scotland's fourth-largest city and the 51st-most-populous built-up area in the United Kingdom. The mid-year population estimate for 2016 was , giving Dundee a population density of 2,478/km2 or ...

, Scotland, to a

Church of Scotland The Church of Scotland ( sco, The Kirk o Scotland; gd, Eaglais na h-Alba) is the national church in Scotland. The Church of Scotland was principally shaped by John Knox, in the Scottish Reformation, Reformation of 1560, when it split from t ...

priest who later became a bishop of the

Scottish Episcopal Church The Scottish Episcopal Church ( gd, Eaglais Easbaigeach na h-Alba; sco, Scots Episcopal(ian) Kirk) is the ecclesiastical province of the Anglican Communion in Scotland. A continuation of the Church of Scotland as intended by King James VI, and ...

and his wife, Macgregor's family moved to

Stromness Stromness (, non, Straumnes; nrn, Stromnes) is the second-most populous town in Orkney, Scotland. It is in the southwestern part of Mainland Orkney. It is a burgh with a parish around the outside with the town of Stromness as its capital. E ...

in the

Orkney Islands Orkney (; sco, Orkney; on, Orkneyjar; nrn, Orknøjar), also known as the Orkney Islands, is an archipelago in the Northern Isles of Scotland, situated off the north coast of the island of Great Britain. Orkney is 10 miles (16 km) north ...

for most of her childhood, which she shared with many

foster child Foster care is a system in which a underage, minor has been placed into a ward (law), ward, group home (Residential Child Care Community, residential child care community, Treatment centre, treatment center, etc.), or private home of a state-ce ...

ren her parents took in; they adopted her younger sister. As part of her education there she studied five languages and music. She played in the Youth String Orchestra of Scotland and planned on a career in music until a maths teacher told her that would be "a shocking waste of a good brain." She attended the

University of Edinburgh The University of Edinburgh ( sco, University o Edinburgh, gd, Oilthigh Dhùn Èideann; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in post-nominals) is a public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Granted a royal charter by King James VI in 15 ...

and graduated with a Masters in the History of Arts. She subsequently completed a diploma in Museum and Gallery Studies in

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...

, England.

Career

On completing her studies, Macgregor's first job was with the

Scottish Arts Council The Scottish Arts Council ( gd, Comhairle Ealain na h-Alba, sco, Scots Airts Cooncil) was a Scottish public body responsible for the funding, development and promotion of the arts in Scotland. The Council primarily distributed funding from the ...

, for whom she was curator and driver of their mobile art gallery, an experience she says taught her that people are not alienated from contemporary art by the art itself as much as they might be by the way it is presented. She then worked for the

Arts Council of Great Britain The Arts Council of Great Britain was a non-departmental public body dedicated to the promotion of the fine arts in Great Britain. It was divided in 1994 to form the Arts Council of England (now Arts Council England), the Scottish Arts Council (l ...

for three years, before spending ten years as director of the

Ikon Gallery The Ikon Gallery () is an English gallery of contemporary art, located in Brindleyplace, Birmingham. It is housed in the Grade II listed, neo-gothic former Oozells Street Board School, designed by John Henry Chamberlain in 1877. Ikon was set u ...

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the West ...

, where she made it a priority to reach out to the area's non-white population. She was appointed director of the

Museum of Contemporary Art Australia The Museum of Contemporary Art Australia (MCA), located on George Street in Sydney's The Rocks neighbourhood, is solely dedicated to exhibiting, interpreting, and collecting contemporary art, from across Australia and around the world. It is ...

(MCA) in 1999 and moved to

. When she took over the museum was struggling financially, a decade after its creation, and bankruptcy threatened. Macgregor eliminated the regular admission fee, which increased visitation sixfold over the next decade as well as donations and revenues from the gift shop. The pressure this put on the museum's physical plant was eased by an addition to the former government office building on

Circular Quay Circular Quay is a harbour, former working port and now international passenger shipping port, public piazza and tourism precinct, heritage area, and transport node located in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia on the northern edge of the Syd ...

that housed it which nearly doubled its space and allowed visitation to reach over a million by 2018. From 2016 to 2019 Macgregor served as President of the Board of the International Committee for Museums and Collections of Modern Art for a three-year term."Australia: MCA Director is new Cimam, President of the Board", 2016, MENA Report. She has established a strong working relationship with the

Tate Tate is an institution that houses, in a network of four art galleries, the United Kingdom's national collection of British art, and international modern and contemporary art. It is not a government institution, but its main sponsor is the U ...

in London, resulting in the joint acquisition of works by 15 Australian artists. In March 2021 she announced that she would resign from the MCA, which she had helped weather the early days of the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

, effective October 2021, to return to Scotland and spend more time with her family.

Writings

Macgregor contributed a chapter titled "Investment in Culture: Folly or Necessity? in the 2006 publication, ''Talking About Sydney: Population, community and culture in contemporary Sydney'', edited by Robert Freestone, Bill Randolph and Caroline Butler-Bowdon. She contributes the forewords for books on artists and exhibitions produced by the MCA. She also contributed an essay, "A Tale of Two Cultures", to ''Essentially Creative'', edition 23 of the ''

Griffith Review ''Griffith Review'' is a quarterly publication featuring essays, reportage, memoir, fiction, poetry and artwork from established and emerging writers and artists. Each edition focuses on a contemporary theme, enabling pertinent issues to be aired ...

''.

Awards and honours

*2001:

Centenary Medal The Centenary Medal is an award which was created by the Australian Government in 2001. It was established to commemorate the centenary of the Federation of Australia and to recognise "people who made a contribution to Australian society or go ...

for "service to Australian society and contemporary art". *2011 Queen's Birthday Honours: appointed an

Officer of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

in the Diplomatic Service and Overseas List for "service to contemporary art". She is also a

Fellow of the Royal Society of New South Wales The Royal Society of New South Wales is a learned society based in Sydney, Australia. The Governor of New South Wales is the vice-regal patron of the Society. The Society was established as the Philosophical Society of Australasia on 27 June 1 ...

(FRSN). *2016: named NSW Creative Laureate for 2016 jointly with

Carriageworks Carriageworks is a multi-arts urban cultural precinct located at the former Eveleigh Railway Workshops in Redfern, Sydney, Australia. Carriageworks showcases contemporary art and performing arts, as well as being used for filming, festivals, fa ...

multi-arts centre. When speaking of this award she said: "Creativity is the key to innovation, and innovation drives growth, sustainability and prosperity, enriching NSW's – and Australia's – cultural capital". *2016: elected President of the Board of the International Committee for Museums and Collections of Modern Art for a three-year term. *2019:

(FRSN) *2019: winner of the Arts, Culture and Sport category of the 2019 ''

Australian Financial Review ''The Australian Financial Review'' (abbreviated to the ''AFR'') is an Australian business-focused, compact daily newspaper covering the current business and economic affairs of Australia and the world. The newspaper is based in Sydney, New Sou ...

s "100 Influential Women". *2022: appointed

Member of the Order of Australia The Order of Australia is an honour that recognises Australian citizens and other persons for outstanding achievement and service. It was established on 14 February 1975 by Elizabeth II, Queen of Australia, on the advice of the Australian Gove ...

for "significant service to museums and galleries through leadership roles with arts institutions".

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Macgregor, Elizabeth Ann 1958 births Living people Members of the Order of Australia Officers of the Order of the British Empire Fellows of the Royal Society of New South Wales Alumni of the University of Edinburgh Australian curators Recipients of the Centenary Medal Australian art historians Women art historians Australian art gallery directors Australian women curators People from Dundee People from Orkney