According to the official website, the museum operated for a time in rented spaces where art exhibitions, theater performances, concerts, and film screenings were held. Despite this limited infrastructure, it hosted a large number of exhibitions by renowned Panamanian and Latin American artists, who donated works to the museum's nascent collection to help establish this important Panamanian cultural institution.

Then, in 1983, Panarte's Board of Directors decided to solve the space problems they had been facing for a long time and to purchase a space to house and preserve the growing collection of contemporary art. Thus began a great campaign of support in which many people and several companies contributed to the promotion of Panamanian art. In this way, they were able to acquire and transform the old Masonic Temple in the Ancon neighborhood to house the MAC Collection, which now includes more than 200 works donated by artists.