Maui Arts & Cultural Center — Attraction in Maui

I've never been so embarrassed and humiliated as I was by Christina Medley, the house manager at MACC. I live on Oahu and had free tickets to the Mayjah Rayjah at Aloha Stadium but decided it would be fun to plan a mini vacay on Maui and attend Mayjah Rayjah at this outdoor venue. I bought tickets for both nights since it's a 2 day concert and purchased a bunch of scrips the first night for food and drinks. Nobody selling scrips mentioned they are only good for one night so when our $50 in scrips were no good the second night at the same event, I was really sad. The people selling scrips felt bad and said I should talk to box office to see if they would trade them in. I am a single mom, don't have money to throw away and so I figured it was worth at least asking. I really just wanted to enjoy the show, not get shuffled through multiple people just to 'ask' if I could trade scrips in. They finally brought Christina in. She said she was 'sorry that I didn't agree w the policies' and there was nothing she could do.' I explained how it was really a bummer how my scrips purchased at a two day event were only good one night and how I went out of my way to check out the Maui venue and I felt robbed. I asked her if I should keep the scrips to which she said there may be a concert where they use that color scrips in six months but she doesn't really know. I said I live on Oahu, that doesn't really help me. I was feeling so taken by the policy I mentioned that I felt like I might as well have just burned my $50 and she said 'I can take those for you if it's such an inconvenience' as she TOOK the scrips right out of my hands! I said, in the calmest voice, 'no thank you, I'll hold onto them, it's fine, I'm just really bummed and will go back in and enjoy the show but this feels so frickin wrong.' To which she asked if 'that was my friend standing behind me' I said yes and she said 'He can either escort you out of here, or I can have security escort you out.' There were at least two other women standing around us who worked for the venue that witnessed the exchange. I never raised my voice or got excited once. I listened and watched Christina's body language from the start of the convo. It was flight or fight mode. Her voice was shaky from the beginning and you could tell she was irritated that she had to have the conversation about the scrips. There was not one ounce of Aloha in this woman's body. If she was simply friendly or empathetic about the situation at all, none of this would have happened. Never once did she thank me for choosing the venue over my home venue, try to make me feel better about the situation or anything. She was cold as they come with an attitude of superiority and even a fearful energy from the very beginning. She turned a conversation into a confrontation that ended up with her going into fight mode, flexing her authority because she lacks problem solving and people skills and couldn't figure out what to do besides kick out a single mom, working three jobs as a substitute teacher, a yoga teacher and manager at a local sandwich shop from a REGGAE show on Maui. I was so upset and embarrassed that myself and my boyfriend were forced to leave the show that I broke down in tears outside the venue. I've been going to concerts my entire life, I've been to hundreds of shows and NEVER have I ever been treated so poorly. I work in customer service and if I ever treated a customer the way Christina Medley treated me that night, I probably would have been fired and that's over a $10 sandwich let alone $200 in concert tix on a neighbor island. I will prob NEVER attend this venue again and continue to tell everyone who mentions this venue how awful I was treated over something anyone can agree is a ridiculous, unfair, policy. It's been months since the event and I had to finally get this off my chest as much as I was trying to just let it go. Mahalo for listening 🙏🏼 MACC you...

My love-hate relationship with the MACC has turned for the worse. Here's my story.

Years ago, I took in two concerts inside of the Castle Theater, Bruno Mars and Chris Daughtry. The acoustics were so bad that all you could hear was background music and zero vocals. Only because I knew the songs did I know what they were singing. On top of that, you're not allowed to eat or drink inside of the "church" is what I like to call it. I've been to world class theaters around the world and they wouldn't think of banning food & beverage inside. I can accept the sitting down rule and getting up to dance if everyone else is doing it, but overall, I'd rather be outdoors.

Numerous acts have come through, mostly aging-artists of national fame and small country names of today, both of which I passed on either because they were inside of the "church" or I didn't want to see them in general.

Patiently waiting for a big-name act to arrive, I get an email that 98° is coming. Partially excited as I liked their music back in the 2000's, I was ecstatic that it was set for the Yokouchi Pavilion & Amphitheater which meant it's outdoors. I check out the different ticket prices which ranged from $49 for general admission all the way up to $140-something for VIP. Having had so much fun at a recent UB40 concert in the VIP section, I was set on those tickets as we were right up against the stage standing up or you could steal a chair from nearby to sit if you like. We also had a segregated bar and bathrooms (I know, sounds horrible but that's what it is) which were awesome.

I head down to the box office and ask questions. Every ticket price point (4 or so) had assigned seating except for general admission. Ugh. Not wanting to sit arm-to-touching arm next to a stranger, I chose general admission so we could roam around instead.

THE LAST STRAW: Not two weeks prior to the concert, I get an email from the MACC stating that the concert was being moved indoors. INTO THE CHURCH. Instructions were to go down to the box office, again, to exchange the outdoor tickets for "comparable indoor seats" as they'd be void. Any tickets in will call would be changed automatically. I'm assuming this change happened because they couldn't sell enough tickets? So what!? Keep it outdoors!?

I head down and first ask if a refunded can be given. Of course the answer was "no". Because I had outdoor general admission tickets, the new indoor general admission seating was at the tippy top of the theater and on a first come, first served seating basis. Now, not only are we forced to sit, we're not even guaranteed a seat or even seats together!? And food or beverage inside? Forget about it! Come on, MACC. I understand that things happen but you shouldn't punish your clientele with a change in venue and not even make an exception on refunds as a lot of people make decisions solely on that!

DISGUST: I ended up giving away my tickets to a very deserving couple as I did not want to deal with claiming possibly limited seats and fighting the crowds. This already left me with a sour note so I prefer not to even deal with it at all.

OVERALL: The whole operation is very backwards and is stick in a rut. We've been MACC members for years now but will not be renewing our membership. Only free events for me here...

Maui Film Festival with it's prior layback traditions is over. The venue change to the Macc isn't favorable. Tonight I almost drove to the Emerald Golf Course, where the StarDust Cinema used to be since 2000. When I didn't see the usual parking, I looked at the itinerary and discovered to my dismay, they were having the Stardust Cinema movies at the MACC in the A & B Amphitheater. I drove from Kihei to The Maui Arts and Cultural Center (MACC) in Kahului. I arrived, parked and went to go inside. A security guard grabbed my backpack, pushed it to the ground and said, "You'll have to open your backpack. " I opened it and my popcorn and water were apparent. He said " You'll have to throw those away. You can't bring food or beverages into the Macc." He also said " You can buy food and beverages from the food trucks on property." I felt uncomfortable to say the least, and I decided right on the spot that I wasn't going into the Macc to see outdoor Movies tonight. This experience wasn't the comfortable, hospitality aloha of past years (since 2000) that I had experienced with the Maui Film Festival. Prior years had been a comforting, aloha experience, that always left me feeling up lifted after watching the films. In fact this bad experience with feeling 'policed' by the male Macc Security Guard bothered me so much that I have decided not to support the Macc any longer. I will not be attending any of their shows or events in the future. It's a shame I really used to enjoy the Maui Film Festival, but since the aloha is gone and I can't enjoy my homemade popcorn while I watch films until 12 am under the stars, well its just not worth it for me. I also have to say that the lit up Macc outdoor A & B amphitheater isn't an effective way to watch a film outdoors. The many lit lights on the property affect the vision of the film. Plus there are too many lights in Kahului in general, so you can't see the stars while you watch films...