Agenda item

Report of the Managing Director (copy attached).

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 thanked Members for attending the Beech Street Tunnel event at the weekend and presented a slideshow of pictures to give a brief impression of the highlights.  Members agreed the event had been a successful, transformative experience and was the first external impression of what the Culture Mile could achieve. It was highlighted that this had been a cross-city, cross-learning, cross-collaborative art form experience and special thanks went to Fiona Kidd, Hugh Humphreys and Rachel Smith for their hard work, as well as to the ushers and volunteers in pink jumpers who had provided fantastic support throughout the event.

·         Members discussed the numerous issues that had been overcome during the course of the weekend, notably the high winds and adverse weather conditions. They commended the calm manner in which these difficulties had been managed to allow the event to go ahead, noting that the weekend had provided a wealth of learning opportunities for the future events in the tunnel.

·         An officer noted the important role of residents who formed part of a working group for this event and had provided some helpful suggestions. Members were pleased that the Centre was building a collaborative, supportive relationship with Barbican residents and hoped to build on this in the future.

·         Noting that the event had partly been funded through officers’ discretionary expenditure, a Member suggested that capturing the costs and outcomes involved in this and other similar events, such as the Walthamstow Garden Party, would be highly valuable. It was requested that these be presented to the Board at a future meeting in order to help Members better understand the use of discretionary expenditure and the benefits, both tangible and intangible, which accrued from such events. As budget pressures increased, this would be beneficial in making the case for the protection of such funding to the corporate centre, or in making bids for funding to others in future.

·         With regards to the new ticketing system, Members were advised that a decision would be made by the end of the month.

·         It was noted that the Head of Cinema, Robert Rider, would be leaving the Centre shortly. Members expressed their sincere gratitude to Robert for his dedicated work at the Barbican over the years.

·         Regarding a comment concerning the Barbican’s direction of thinking on digital learning, Members were advised that a creative learning speaker would be talking at the Barbican Centre Away Day and that e-learning would be a key topic for discussion. Gerald Grech proposed that a member of his team assist with this talk which the Chairman agreed would be very useful.

·         A Member queried whether the Barbican worked with Keats House, observing opportunities for collaboration on events such as their Poet in Residence series. The Director of Learning & Engagement advised that the venues had previously engaged and that he would follow-up in respect of future collaboration.

RECEIVED.