Agenda and minutes

Apologies for absence were received from Tom Hoffman, Brian McMaster Sue Robertson and Keith Salway,

Standing Declarations -

          Deputy Catherine McGuinness has declared a general personal interest as a Trustee of the Guildhall School Development Fund, and as Chair of Governors of the City Academy, Hackney, which benefits from work with the Creative Learning Department.

Cllr Guy Nicholson has declared a general personal interest as a Regional Council Member for London Arts Council England, a Board observer to Hackney Empire Ltd, as a Non-Executive Director of CREATE Ltd. 

Roly Keating has declared a general personal interest as a BBC employee with regard to the Barbican Centre’s connection with BBC’s Orchestras and the BBC’s Digital Partnership with the Arts Council. 

Christopher Purvis has declared a general personal interest as the (unpaid) Chairman of the Trustees of the Academy of Ancient  Music which, in the 2010-11 season, had an engagement at the Barbican Hall and has engagements planned for the future.

There were no declarations.

To approve the public minutes and summary of the meeting held on 26 September 2012.

The public minutes and summary of the meeting held on 26 November 2012 were approved.  

To receive the public minutes and summary of the meeting of the Finance Committee of the Barbican Centre Board held on 13 November 2012.

The public minutes and summary of the Finance Committee meeting held on 13 November 2012 were received.

RECEIVED.

To receive the public minutes and summary of the Risk Committee of the Barbican Centre Board held on 11 October 2012.

The public minutes and summary of the Risk Committee meeting held on 11 October were received.

RECEIVED.

To elect two additional Members to the Barbican Risk Committee.

The Chairman called for additional Members to serve on the Risk Committee of the Barbican Centre Board and Vivienne Littlechild indicated her willingness to serve.

RESOLVED – That Vivienne Littlechild be elected to serve on the Risk Committee of the Barbican Centre Board for the remainder of the year.

[The Chairman took this opportunity to congratulate Matthew Richardson on becoming Alderman Elect for the Ward of Billingsgate].

Report of the Director of the Built Environment.

The Board received a report of the Director of the Built Environment regarding the project proposal at the Beech Street Tunnel.

The Board were advised that the Centre was working with other departments across the City Corporation to look at all options and Member feedback into the project was welcomed.

In response to a Member’s query, the Chairman highlighted that improving the tunnel was an important part of the Board’s work and asked the Port Health and Environmental Services Committee to examine which chemicals are used in the road building process within the tunnel.

The Managing Director added that this project was not isolated and was a part of the West Smithfield Area Strategy and advised that the tunnel could define how the Barbican sat in relation to other developments nearby.  

Report of the Managing Director.

The Board received a report of the Managing Director updating the Members on each of the five departments’ progress, issues and activities and drawing attention to upcoming events and developments.

The Director of Creative Learning advised the Board that ‘Unleashed’, a show curated and implemented entirely by young people and coordinated by Boy Blue, had been a great success. He added that, the Centre successfully hosted the Battle of Ideas for the first time and was looking to bring the event back for a second time next year. 

The Director of Audiences and Development reported that she was pleased that the Centre had maintained the momentum built up earlier in the year in the post-Olympic period.  She added that the new digital content producer was in demand across departments to work with them on various new projects and she would circulate some of the material to the Board at a future meeting.

The Chief Operating and Financial Officer advised that talks were progressing well with the London Film School and that strong interest still existed in Exhibition Hall 2 from educational organisations. He noted that whilst the budget targets for this year would prove challenging the Bond exhibition had already been sold on to Canada and China and that the catering operation was performing well.

The Chairman added that ‘Unleashed’ had laid a fantastic building block from which to build on in the future and stressed that the recent residents meeting had proved very useful in helping to improve relations.

In response to a Member’s query, the Board were advised that the Neuroscience Exhibition was a good example of commercial businesses and the Creative Learning department working together.

In response to a Members query regarding ‘Unleashed’, the Managing Director added that the project and others of its type were based

In response to a Members question, the Chairman and the Managing Director agreed to look into the possibility of Board Members being associated with particular areas of the Barbican Centre’s work.

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 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 approve the non-public minutes of the previous meeting held on 26 September 2012.

The non-public minutes of the meeting held on 26 September 2012 were approved.

To receive the non-public minutes of the Finance Committee of the Barbican Centre Board held on 13 November 2012.

The non-public minutes of the meeting held on 13 November 2012 were received.

RECEIVED.

To receive the non-public minutes of the Risk Committee of the Barbican Centre Board held on 11 October 2012.

The non-public minutes of the meeting held on 11 October 2012 were received.

RECEIVED.

To receive the non-public minutes and summary of the Nominations Committee of the Barbican Centre Board held on 3 October 2012

The minutes of the Nominations Committee of the Barbican Centre Board were received.

RECEIVED.

Report of the Town Clerk

The Board received a report of the Town Clerk.

RECEIVED.

Presentation by the Director of Audiences and Development, the Head of Marketing and the Head of Communications.   

The Board received a presentation of the Director of Audiences and Development, the Head of Marketing and the Head of Communications.

RECEIVED. 

Report of the Chief Operating and Financial Officer.

The Board received a report of the Chief Financial and Operating Officer.

RECEIVED.

Report of the Chief Operating and Financial Officer.

The Board approved a report of the Chief Operating and Financial Officer.

Report of the Operations & Buildings Director, the Barbican Centre.

The Board approved a report of the Operations and Buildings Director.

Report of the Director of Audiences and Development.

The Board approved a report of the Director of Audiences and Development.

At this point, the time limit for Committee meetings as set out in Standing Order 40 had been reached, but there being a two-thirds majority of the Committee present who voted in favour of an extension, the Committee agreed to continue the meeting.

Report of the Managing Director, the Barbican System.

The Board received a report of the Managing Director.

RECEIVED.

Report of the head of Development, Barbican Centre.

The Board received a report of the head of Development.

RECEIVED.

Report of the Chief Operating and Financial Officer.

The Board received a report of the Chief Operating and Financial Officer.

RECEIVED.

There were no questions.

There were no urgent items.