Press room

Find out what’s on at the Barbican for babies, young people, their families and guardians this autumn & winter. Plus, all that is on offer for everyone for free (or very cheap) all day long.

FOR FAMILIES AND CHILDREN

CINEMA: Barbican Family Film Week 2023 (Sat 21 Oct – Sat 28 Oct) Barbican’s beloved season returns this autumn half-term with a packed week of children’s films from around the world, special guest introductions, free workshops and events, including special previews of Oink, Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget (+ workshop with an Aardman illustrator), and a relaxed screening event of Spider-man Across the Spider Verse with a Drawing Demo. Tickets from £3. Full listings here.

THEATRE: My Neighbour Totoro (Tue 21 Nov – Sat 23 Mar 2024) The award-winning Royal Shakespeare Company’s production of Studio Ghibli’s My Neighbour Totoro returns to the Barbican Theatre for a strictly limited run in Autumn 2023.

CINEMA: London International Animation Festival (Fri 24 Nov – Sun 3 Dec) The London International Animation Festival is back for its 20th anniversary, with the best animated films from around the world for all tastes and ages. Tickets from £5. Full listings here.

THEATRE: Get Happy (Thu 7—Tue 19 Dec) Told by an Idiot create a world of artfully controlled chaos as this show for curious babies, kids and adults of all ages returns to the Barbican. Inspired by work of Charlie Chaplin, Dr Seuss and Pina Bausch, Get Happy is an unexpected variety performance, bursting with quirky playfulness and off-the-wall humour.

SQUISH SPACE: Barbican’s free creative play space for under 5s and their families. Designed by artist/designer duo India Harvey and Lisa Marie Bengtsson, the space brings people together to learn through interaction, collaboration, and play. All dates until December available below.

CINEMA: Parent and Baby Screenings (Mondays and Saturdays) Bring along baby for our weekly film screenings of the latest new releases each Monday and Saturday morning. New titles added regularly. Tickets only cost £6 and you can find upcoming screenings and subscribe to hear all Barbican family cinema events here.

CINEMA: Family Film Club (every Saturday) Every week the Barbican film curators find films from all over the world, specially selected for family audiences and smaller cinephiles. Tickets from £3.50. Full listings here.

YOUNG BARBICAN: Not forgetting those young adults, our Young Barbican scheme gives 14–25 year olds discounted access to unmissable art and entertainment as well as exclusive events and creative opportunities. Free to join, every year we offer members (and their 14-25yo guest) over 50,000 tickets across art, film, music, theatre and dance for only £5, £10 or £15 with new film releases just £5. Young Barbican also provides talent development opportunities to you the skills and confidence needed to progress in today's creative industries. More information below.

BARBICAN KITCHEN: Kids Eat Free: Barbican Kitchen is a family-friendly restaurant located on the ground floor of the Barbican. Children under 10 can get a free kid’s meal from our kids’ menu with every adult meal over the value of £10 purchased.

FREE (and cheap) FOR ALL AGES

CINEMA: Free Senior Community Screening: The Sapphires (PG) (Mon 11 Dec) Barbican presents a free end of year Senior Community Screening of The Sapphires where four young Yorta Yorta (Aboriginal) singers find their collective voice in their discovery of Soul music. Based on a true story, The Sapphires is irresistibly charming, with electric performances from Chris O’Dowd and Deborah Mailman. To celebrate the end of the year with this special screening, there will be a festive raffle before the movie, and free tea, coffee and festive treats afterwards. Book your place here. Senior Community Screenings welcome 60+ cinema goers to watch the latest new releases every other Monday morning, with tickets at £6 (+booking fee). See more info below.

VISUAL ARTS: Barbican Conservatory x Ranjani Shettar (Free entry, until Fri 1 Mar 2024) Barbican Conservatory hosts a spectacular new site-specific commission by Indian sculptor Ranjani Shettar. Cloud songs on the horizon is the artist’s first major institutional show in Europe and features five new, large-scale suspended sculptures across the entirety of the Conservatory space. Tickets are free and available Sundays all day and Friday evenings after 5pm. We strongly encourage reserving tickets online. You can also gain entry to the Conservatory when you buy a ticket to Re/Sisters exhibition.

VISUAL ARTS: Julianknxx: Chorus in Rememory of Flight (Free entry, until Sun 11 Feb 2024) Poet, artist and filmmaker Julianknxx explores themes of inheritance, loss and belonging as he crosses the boundaries between written word, music and visual art.

VISUAL ARTS (Pay What You Can): Re/Sisters: A Lens on Gender and Ecology (until Sun 14 Jan) Every Friday from 5-8pm throughout the run, visitors can take advantage of Barbican’s Pay What You Can scheme, with tickets starting at £3.

CINEMA (Pay What You Can): Each Friday, one of our new release film screenings is priced Pay What You Can, with tickets starting at £3. We don't want price to be a barrier to having a great cinema experience. Listings updated regularly here. Plus, you can catch all our movies every Monday for only £6.

MUSIC: EFG London Jazz Festival @ Barbican FreeStage (Fri 10—Sun 19 Nov) Celebrating over 30 years of the festival at the Barbican with free live performances lined up from a host of exciting musicians from across the globe – in both our concert Hall and free performances in our foyer spaces. Free performances include Melbourne International Jazz Festival Presents (Sat 11 Nov, 12pm);

J to Z stage (Sun 12 Nov, 1pm); Jazz from Ireland (Sat 18 Nov, 2pm); and Jazz North Presents: Amique & the Ecstasy & Sarah Heneghan (Sun 19 Nov, 3pm). Full festival listings at the Barbican here.

BARBICAN LIBRARY: In The Moment: The Art of Music Photography (until Mon 4 Dec) To mark its 25th year as a unique collective of music photographers, Rockarchive.com presents an exhibition chronicling the evolution of music photography over the last 70 years. In the Moment showcases iconic rock and roll images and the photographers who shot them, with highlights including Michael Putland’s thrilling shot of Pete Townshend’s guitar being thrown through the air at The Who’s Madison Square Garden performance in 1979; Jill Furmanovsky’s evocative silhouette of Oasis captured during the making of their video for Wonderwall in 1995, and more. Free entry.