She encouraged the work of new writers and playwrights, including W. B. Yeats, George Bernard Shaw and members of what became known as the Manchester School of dramatists.

[2] In 1890 she joined the occult society the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, where she remained a member until disagreements with its leaders led to her resignation in 1903.

[2][3] Their friendship endured: Frank O'Connor recalled that on the day Yeats heard of her death, he spent the entire evening speaking of his memories of her.

[2][3][1] At the Gaiety she appointed Ben Iden Payne[1] as the director and employed actors on 40-week contracts, alternating their work between large and small parts.

She also encouraged local writers who formed what was known as the Manchester School of dramatists, the leading members of which were Harold Brighouse, Stanley Houghton and Allan Monkhouse.

Annie became a well-known public figure in Manchester, lecturing on subjects which included women's suffrage and her views about the theatre.

[5] She held court at the Midland Hotel, wearing exotic clothing and openly smoking cigarettes, which was considered scandalous at the time.

The theatre critic James Agate noted that Horniman's high-minded theatrical ventures had "an air of gloomy strenuousness" about them.