Agenda item

Report of the Director of Arts.

N.B. – to be read in conjunction with the non-public sections and appendix at Item X.

The Board received a report of the Director of Arts providing an update on performance over the past year and setting out the opportunities, challenges and plans for the coming period.

Members congratulated the Head of Visual Arts on a successful year, commenting on the impressive variety of exhibitions and the subsequent diversity of audiences attracted.

The benefits of the partnership models increasingly being used were discussed, with the Head of Visual Art commenting that it allowed the Barbican to be more ambitious with its programming and take more risks. Given the significant increases in partnership income over the past year or so, the Head of Finance & IT suggested that there was need to consider how this was report in the annual art-form updates in future.

Noting the increasingly international popularity of the programme, particularly with reference to the forthcoming Basquiat exhibition, it was suggested that thought should be given to an international strategy which would raise the profile of the Barbican globally and assist in attracting more diverse audiences and increase the development team’s fundraising opportunities. The Director of Arts advised that work was already underway on such a strategy and this would be presented to the Board in the coming months.

RECEIVED.