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.

Introducing the report, the Managing Director took the opportunity to show the Board a number of still images from CCTV footage which had captured the recent Banksy installation at the Centre. He also displayed a number of photographs from the latest edition of Vogue, which was Edward Enninful’s first as Editor-in-Chief and which featured the Barbican prominently.

Members discussed the ongoing development of the Culture Mile, with reference made to a recent suggestion in another forum that the title of the initiative should be reconsidered as the word “culture” might be viewed as elitist. Several Members spoke to express their robust opposition to such a proposal, referencing the Barbican’s diverse programming and audiences and emphasising the importance of opposing the perception of culture as an elitist concept, noting that culture encompassed an incredibly broad spectrum of activities and experiences.

Board Members and officers took the opportunity to place on record their gratitude to Deputy Tom Sleigh for arranging the recent YouTube Studio Tour and accompanying talk from the Head of the Google Cultural Institute, which had proven extremely informative.

The Director of Arts also took the opportunity to thank the Chairman for his engagement with staff at a recent meeting, where he had provided the opportunity for staff to ask him a variety of questions. This event had proven to be a good opportunity to increase staff members’ awareness of the Board’s role and the positive feedback received demonstrated that this had been valued highly.

RECEIVED.