Alice Rawsthorn, design critic, International Herald Tribune
"All cultural centres are defined by their impact on their visitors, and most Londoners have seen or heard something at the Barbican over the years that inspired them, or challenged them into changing the way they think. For me the most recent  examples would be Christian Marclay's exhibition and Michael Clark's performance, although having one of London's biggest cinema screens buried in the Barbican basement helps too."

Michael Tilson Thomas, LSO Principal Guest Conductor
"From the earliest days of the Barbican Hall I have taken great pleasure in the immediacy and warmth of its sound. I have thoroughly enjoyed my years of conducting the London Symphony Orchestra (LSO) at the Barbican and in creating festivals with the entire Barbican staff. I salute you on 25 years of growth and accomplishment."

Chris Petit, filmmaker
"As surreal as a De Chircio or Escher."

Sir Colin Davis, President LSO
"How lucky for the LSO to have a home at the Barbican, so much depends on having a regular place to perform and rehearse in. Since the acoustics were adjusted it has become a very satisfactory concert hall even though its shape militates against it."

Douglas Kennedy, writer
"How do you come to love such an unlovely place? I must find myself twice a week at the Barbican - and after almost twenty years of living in London, the Centre still looks like the setting for one of Kielowski's films about life in a particularly bleak Warsaw tower block. But once inside, I forget about the reinforced concrete realities of the design and find myself constantly thinking: for sheer quality, eclecticism and excellence, this must be the greatest cultural centre going."

McCoy Tyner, jazz musician
"Over the years, I have had the pleasure of bringing a number of different, projects - from trio to big band - to the Barbican. It's become my London concert home, always open to new ideas, and I'm looking forward immensely to returning with a new band, with musicians from both sides of the Atlantic, during your 25th anniversary season."

Vivienne Westwood, fashion designer
"Why shouldn't I love the Barbican? I'm in Heaven at a concert or play. Going is a privilege, a treat, an occasion. I love the space-outside, getting there is a mini adventure of anticipation; and inside, during intervals the open space is cosy because there is so much going on and you can see everyone and you feel you're protected in this large complex by the pleasure of it all."

Valery Gergiev, principal conductor LSO
"To make music in this Hall with the LSO - especially in 25th anniversary year in 2007 - is a wonderful occasion for many people both in London and around the world. What the LSO and Barbican bring to the outside world is very significant. The programming is wonderful - high quality and huge variety. For me, it will be not only enjoyment but also a chance to learn and to build bridges between here and Russia."

Deborah Warner, theatre director
"The Barbican is unique in British theatre not just because (since the creation of BITE in 1998) literally hundreds of audiences, young and old, have been able to see work otherwise only available to them in Europe and beyond, but because it is passionately committed to intense dialogues with performance-makers across the fields of theatre, dance and opera in the hope of finding the new."

Michael Rosen, writer and presenter
"The Barbican is like a cathedral to ideas."

Jonathan Glancey, architectural journalist
"There is nothing like the architecture and planning of the Barbican Estate in scale, intelligence, engineering, ingenuity, quality of construction, urban landscaping and sheer abstract artistry anywhere else in Britain, and perhaps not in the world. A massive and multivalent architectural project that took decades to design and build has taken an equally long time to win recognition and familiarity in Londoners' minds. Long dismissed as a concatenation of brutalist concrete by those who lived outside its heroic walls, the Barbican has always been admired and respected by those it was built for. Today, the estate is both fashionable and listed: Chamberlin, Powell and Bon can rest in peace."

Ken Loach, film director
"It's always a pleasure to go to the Barbican cinema. But I'd redesign it to make it easier to get to!"

Peter Sellars, opera director
"With all of these concerts, theatre, visual art, film, the Barbican is like a detox, right in the middle of this toxic city - like a breath of air, another possibility, an alternative you didn't imagine. I love the Barbican exactly because its right in the middle of everything, like an unexpected flower or a protected oasis. Everything's tucked away in some surprising place, so just walking through the building and trying to get from here to there is an entire adventure story. What you get in any given week, in terms of stars of classical music, world music, jazz and experimental stuff, not just the range but the endless cross pollination is so cool. With all the different performances overlapping, the different audiences keep meeting each other here, so there's this vibe - you know they are going to talk about and spread the buzz out into the world."

Alain de Botton, writer
"The Barbican is the premiere world class performance space in London. Their superb and imaginative artistic staff regularly create programs of the most adventurous and distinguished music, dance and theater from all over the planet. For me, it has become my musical home in London." Steve Reich, composer The Barbican has won a place in the hearts of those who care about the arts despite its extremely challenging architecture - simply by the virtue of the excellence of its productions. Indeed, so good are many of the shows that one often walks out and looks with new generosity towards the stark and unapologetic architecture."

Michael Keegan Dolan, Fabulous Beast Dance Theatre.
Working at the Barbican means that I have the great opportunity to see the work of fabulous beast presented in an environment of artistic excellence as part of an artistic programme that is second to none. It is a great privilege to share our work with the bite / fabulous beast audience which is growing steadily. Being an associate company to the Barbican allows me the feeling of having an artistic home away from home and this is a great feeling. Remembering how it is to sit in the auditorium of the Barbican's theatres and watch the fabulous beasts at work I know there is nowhere else I would rather be; May I offer my heart felt thanks to all and everyone at the Barbican especially Louise Jeffreys who has taken us this far. Vive La Barbican!"

Simon Casson- Duckie
"The eagle-eyed producer at the Barbican , Toni Racklin, saw Duckie at our base in a dodgy south London gay pub and put us on the road to being on the cultural mainstage with bigger and broader audiences - picking up an Olivier Award on the way."

Deborah Warner
"All projects need someone to hold the vision in order for it to happen - there are many stones in the path - and this job was superbly achieved by Louise Jeffreys and her theatre department."