Agenda item

Report of the Managing Director.

Members received a report of the Managing Director providing updates from the Barbican Directors on their respective areas. The Directors spoke to each update, with a number of questions asked by the Board:

Barbican and Golden Lane Area Strategy: The Managing Director informed Members of the work recently undertaken on behalf of the City by Publica in producing the new draft area strategy for the Barbican and Golden Lane. 15 key recommendations had been produced and these, along with the wider strategy, were now the subject of a public consultation process which would be open until 8 July.

The progress of these recommendations would largely determine the future of the public realm around the Barbican Centre in the near and medium-term future; consequently they were of the particular importance to the Centre. The Managing Director had discussed with the Town Clerk the appropriateness of the Board submitting a formal response to the consultation exercise and it had been agreed that this would be apposite.

Following discussion, it was clarified that any response would be drafted by the Centre’s management team and endorsed or amended by the Board prior to submission. While this would be further discussed at the Board’s away day, given the absence of any further scheduled Board meetings in advance of the deadline, it was possible that any response would need to be agreed by email with a special meeting called if required.

Protests: Members discussed the protests taking place outside the Barbican Centre. While the issues being protested about were not within the remit of the Board to address, nonetheless there was a significant reputational risk to the Centre in people associating the protests with the Barbican and creating the misperception that it was mistreating staff. It was urged that steps be taken to encourage the City Corporation or MITIE to improve communication with protestors and the public to make the position clear.

The Assistant Director for Press advised that the issue was complicated by the fact that the union involved was not officially recognised, making it difficult to engage formally. Further, the union was seeking to use the protests to assist in their wider aim of highlighting their concerns with inequalities inherent within society, attempting to embarrass institutions as a means of achieving this. This exacerbated difficulties in negotiating amicable resolutions. Nonetheless, with the initial underlying concerns of workers around the timing of London Living Wage implementation now addressed, it was expected that frustration and associated protests were likely to diminish. It should be noted that the Barbican was not alone in being the focus of such protests in London and that media interest was limited, given the nature of the protests.

The Assistant Director also drew attention to a letter MITIE had recently sent to a member of the public, clarifying the position articulately and comprehensively and addressing the individual’s concerns. It was asked that the Town Clerk circulate a copy of this letter to all Board members in due course.

Revenue growth: A Member noted the strong growth in revenue and commercial income, asking how this had been achieved and if any more could be done to maximise income. The Chief Operating & Financial Officer advised that the changes made to the Centre’s set-up in 2011 had been instrumental in improving the commercial focus of the Centre; the success of programming had also been invaluable in generating secondary income. The Service Based Review targets set also called for further commercial growth and the Centre’s success to date provided confidence that this could be achieved.

RECEIVED.