Mary McCarthy

Mary McCarthy is the Director of Crawford Art Gallery one of Ireland’s National Cultural Institutions. She was appointed Director of the Crawford Art Gallery in 2018 and since then has worked with the Gallery team and the Board to advance a major capital redevelopment programme. As well as significantly developing the Gallery’s collection through acquisitions and donations.

A graduate of  English and Philosophy in UCC followed by a post-graduate degree in Arts Management in UCD Mary has worked in commercial galleries in New York and Dublin as well as at the Irish Museum of Modern Art (IMMA). Mary served as  Director of the National Sculpture Factory , Director of Programmes for Cork’s European Capital of Culture, the first Arts and Culture Manager at Dublin Docklands Development Authority as Chair of Culture Ireland, Ireland’s State agency for the promotion of Irish arts worldwide. She has also been a Board Member of IMMA and the Cork Film Festival. She has served on several European Commission working groups on culture, cities and cultural development, and has been an assessor for European Capital of Culture cities. Most recently, she sat on the Irish Government’s Taskforce on Arts and Culture Recovery during Covid times.

Mary is currently spearheading the ambitious redevelopment of  Crawford Art Gallery . The project, which is being funded by the Minister’s Department, has been designed by an interdisciplinary design team, led by award-winning Grafton Architects, and is being delivered by the Office of Public Works and Crawford Art Gallery.

Mary is originally from West Cork and now lives in Cork city.