Nearly 70 years ago, Bill and Lucia Zacha arrived in Mendocino to the fire-damaged remains of a once-grand estate and dared to dream. Together with neighbors and fellow artists, they transformed what was left behind into a thriving art center: a home for creative experimentation, a hub for community care, and a spark for renewal.

That dream didn’t stay theirs alone. It became ours.

From the start, MAC has been scrappy and daring—imagining possibility where others saw only disrepair. In Bill’s words: “I slid open a door to this shed and said, ‘this is going to be the gallery.’” His partner, Jennie Zacha, matched his vision with decades of steady, behind-the-scenes dedication—proof that this place has always been built not just by dreamers, but by those who ground the dream in care.

Today, MAC continues to embody the Zacha family’s ethos of interdependence and collective creativity. Our handmade campus of studios, galleries, and theater still hums with the same can-do spirit of rural Northern California—a spirit that makes improbable dreams possible.

Art here is more than the act of creation. It is the meal shared, the conversation sparked, the collaboration that sustains both artists and community.