Agenda and minutes

Apologies for absence were received from Lucy Musgrave and Graham Packham.

There were no declarations.

The public minutes and summary of the Board meeting held on 22 May 2019 were approved as a correct record.

To agree the public minutes and summary of the Barbican Centre Board meeting held on 22 May 2019.

To receive the public minutes of the Finance Committee of the Barbican Centre Board meeting held on 8 July 2019.

Members were advised that the public minutes of the Finance Committee held on 8 July 2019 were still with Chief Officers and would be circulated to Members when they were signed off.

Report of the Town Clerk.

The Board noted the various outstanding actions and the updates provided thereon. The workplan for Board meetings in 2019 was also noted.

With regards to action 2, Members were advised that this concerned avoiding the use of retrospective waivers. It was noted that the Chief Operating & Financial

Officer would be discussing this with Chris Bell on 31 August and would update Members on the outcome at the next Board meeting.

Report of the Managing Director.

Members received a report of the Managing Director providing updates from the Barbican Directors on their respective areas. The following comments were made:

·         The Managing Director highlighted that the Barbican was having an unusually busy summer period with Lee Krasner: Living Colour, AI: More than Human and Jesus Christ Superstar all selling well. This wide summer offer represented a coherent programme that was responsive to audiences and dedicated to building the Barbican’s brand and partnerships.

·         It was noted that key partnerships with AI Business, Informa, KNect265 and WIRED, were leading to impressive springboard events. For example, a joint venture with WIRED led to a public event WIRED Pulse: AI at the Barbican was a huge achievement and success.

·         The Estate 50 event on Saturday 8 June celebrating the 50^th anniversary Barbican Estate sold out and received a great response. This included a number of presentations and was followed by a Corporation reception at the Centre.

·         It was noted that the launch of Spektrix had been delayed and a report would come to Members in September regarding the delays.

·         The flagship schools programme, Barbican Box, has continued to support thousands of primary and secondary school pupils to turn their creative ideas into reality. This has included an international pilot of Barbican Box in South Korea.

·         The Young Entrepreneurs Lab programme, a collaboration with the Guildhall School’s Creative Entrepreneurs programme, which supported four young entrepreneurs to pitch for a £2k prize at the Guildhall School’s Creative Entrepreneurs Awards Ceremony on 25 June. This was won by an enterprise led by a past Young Visual Arts Group member.

·         BIE have just signed a three-year £1m deal with current partners in China to stage four exhibitions. The development of a new exhibition, Virtual Realms (working title), will launch at Singapore Art Science Centre

Report of the Artistic Director.

(N.B. – To be read in conjunction with the non-public appendices at Item 15)

The Board received a report of the Artistic Director providing Members with an overview of the Visual Arts department’s current areas of activity and strategic focus and outlining the impact of the Barbican’s activity over the past year and key future strategic projects.

RECEIVED.

Report of the Director of Creative Learning.

(N.B. – To be read in conjunction with the non-public appendix at Item 16)

The Board received a report of the Director of Creative Learning providing Members with an overview of the Creative Learning department’s current areas of activity and strategic focus, outlining the impact of activity over the past year and key future strategic projects.

·         Members were advised that Creative Learning was thriving with over 22k direct participants into its programmes.

·         A strong focus of Creative Learning continues to be co-creation and learning.

·         It was noted that the diminishing resources and prioritisation of the arts in schools remained a huge burden on the Centre as it became more stretched to fill the void of the arts being left behind in the curriculum. Members were advised that the Barbican would be co-producing a national conference for teachers in partnership with the RSC’s Education team. Towards a Creative Curriculum would be launched in January 2020 aimed at teachers focusing on how arts and cultural learning support the new Ofsted framework.

·         Creative Learning have undertaken a full review of activity in work-based learning, careers advice and employability in close partnership with HR and the Guildhall School’s Enterprise team developing new initiatives including a pilot young entrepreneurs incubator programme, a newly refreshed season of Creative Careers sessions, new work experience pilot schemes, a strategic review of workforce diversity, and a new pilot fusion skills project for schools, funded by the Edge Foundation.

·         Members were advised that the Associate Schools programme was nearing the end of its three-year partnerships and that Creative Learning would be taking on four new schools.

·         It was noted that autumn would mark the 10^th anniversary of the joint Creative Learning division of the Barbican and Guildhall School.

·         The Chairman highlighted the fantastic Creative Learning presentation at the Lord Mayor’s breakfast and hoped that the momentum would continue following 10 impressive years.

·         Members

Report of the Artistic Director.

The Board received a joint report of the Head of HR and Artistic Director providing Members with an update on the equality and inclusion initiatives over the last year, detailing the most recent progress against the long-term strategy, which was signed off by the Barbican Board last July.

·         It was highlighted that equality and inclusion was not isolated covering all areas across the organisation, but the Barbican was dedicated to progress this work.

·         The Centre has entered the third year of its Equality and Inclusion Strategy and evaluation of the strategy identified that lots had been learnt but there was still more work to be done including the need to solidify the access offer and ensuring the building works for all users.

·         The Barbican has engaged in practice-sharing with other arts organisations, particularly on the monitoring of artists.

·         The Chairman noted that programming was doing well at promoting diversity by increasingly attracting diverse audiences.

·         Members discussed the importance of having a diverse Board and Senior Managers/Officers and understanding what this diversity meant. It was noted that the membership of the Board was outside the control of the Barbican due to the set standards of the Corporation but that the Board’s Nominations Committee was used to ensure that diversity and inclusion were a priority when selecting external Members.

·         Members were informed that Officer data on equality and inclusion were included within the report and data concerning the Board could be produced using the outcomes of the annual Arts Council survey.

·         It was noted that the Corporation was aware that more work was needed and had made a commitment to diversity and inclusion. The Corporation was working to achieve a gold standard for accreditation of the Barbican.  

·         The Deputy Chair noted that he chaired the Members Diversity Working Party which had developed

Joint report of the Managing Director and Artistic Director.

The Board received a joint report of the Managing Director and Artistic Director providing Members with an update on Strategic Plan projects, the progress made

against the Barbican’s Strategic Goals and how the delivery of the City of London’s corporate aims and objectives is supported.

Members were advised that the aim of the Plan was to be clear and targeted; however, it continued to be open to change as priorities changed. It was noted that that goals would be revised before the next Board meeting and there would be a refresh of the brand and values.

RECEIVED.

Report of the Director of Learning & Engagement.

The Board received a report of the Director of Learning & Engagement providing Members with an update on the Barbican Guildhall Creative Alliance, and its associated strategic bridging projects, reviewing progress to date and projected next steps.

Members were advised that the alliance had provided an important link to research with the union of the Barbican, Guildhall School and LSO and the integration of learning and technology. Another emergent area of development was in enterprise, innovation and engagement and it was noted that more work would be coming in the autumn. 

Members discussed the valuable joint Barbican Guildhall School Away Day which took place in September 2018 and it was agreed that a second joint meeting was needed to continue to solidify the alliance. Officers agreed to make arrangements for a second meeting.

RECEIVED.

There were no questions.

There were no urgent items.

MOTION – That under Section 100A of the Local Government Act 1972, the public be excluded from the meeting for the following items, on the grounds that they involve the likely disclosure of Exempt Information, as defined in Part 1, of Schedule 12A of the Local Government Act

RESOLVED – That under Section 100A(4) of the Local Government Act 1972, the public be excluded from the meeting for the following items on the grounds that they involve the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in Part 1 of Schedule 12A of the Local Government Act.

To agree the non-public Minutes of the Barbican Centre Board meeting held on 22 May 2019.

The non-public minutes and summary of the Board meeting held on 22 May 2019 were approved as a correct record.

To receive the non-public minutes of the Finance Committee of the Barbican Centre Board held on 8 July 2019.

Members were advised that the non-public minutes of the Finance Committee held on 8 July 2019 were still with Chief Officers and would be circulated to Members when they were signed off.

To be read in conjunction with the report at Item 6.

The Board received non-public appendices to be read in conjunction with Item 6 concerning the Visual Arts Annual Report update.

To be read in conjunction with Item 7.

The Board received a non-public appendix to be read in conjunction with Item 7 concerning the Creative Learning Report update.

The Managing Director to be heard.

The Board received a briefing concerning the Centre for Music providing communication lines for Board Members.

Report of the Chief Operating & Financial Officer.

The Board received a report of the Chief Operating & Financial Officer providing Members with an update on the Barbican Business Review May 2019 (Period 2) accounts.

Report of the Chief Operating & Financial Officer.

The Board received a report of the Chief Operating & Financial Officer providing Members with an update on Catering and Bars 2018/19.

Report of the Director of Operations & Buildings.

The Board received a report of the Director of Operations and Buildings advising Members of the risk management system in place at the Barbican and updating on the significant risks that have been identified and outlining measures for mitigation of these risks.

Report of the Director of Operations and Buildings.

The Board received a report of the Director of Operations and Buildings providing Members with an update on the Centre’s maintenance and refurbishment projects that fall under the Cyclical Works Programme (CWP) or any of the following schemes: ‘Additional Capital Funds for City Fund Properties’ (i.e. Fire Safety projects), Non-CAP and Security and Investment projects.

Report of the Town Clerk.

The Board considered a report of the Town Clerk providing Members with an update on urgent actions taken since the last Board meeting.

There were no questions.

There was one urgent item.