UNA McCarthy, director of the Old Museum Arts Centre in Belfast is to quit her post after four and a half years. She leaves to work in a freelance capacity in Bristol, where she had been arts officer to the city council, prior to moving to Belfast.

McCarthy, who comes from Charleville in Co Cork, transformed the Old Museum from relative obscurity into a thriving venue for exhibitions, community projects and small scale international theatre, surviving a 30 per cent cut in its Arts Council programming grant two years ago. Her departure will leave the city's two major arts centres rudderless. In November, Rhoda McManus, director of the Crescent Arts left and has not been replaced.

The Crescent has made an application for £3.5 million to the National Lottery Fund, which is a sign not only of the scale of work needed to bring the building up to standard but also of its potential, given its situation in the university area and its already large and committed clientele.