A year of inspiring experiences

Welcome to our Annual Review for 2019/20

AI: More than Human - What a Loving, and Beautiful World © teamLab

AI: More than Human - What a Loving, and Beautiful World © teamLab

Forewords

Sir Nicholas Kenyon
Managing Director, Barbican Centre

Welcome to the Barbican’s review of 2019/20, a splendidly successful and adventurous season cruelly cut short by the pandemic, which forced the closure of the Centre in the middle of March 2020. Across all the art forms we continued to present a wide range of work: the path-breaking exhibition of Lee Krasner’s work in the Gallery; films and talks on Anime’s Human Machines in the Cinemas; and an inspiring Beethoven Weekender that invited five of the UK’s top orchestras to celebrate his 250th anniversary. Our exhibition AI: More than Human raised timely questions about what it means to be human in an age of technology. Among the highlights in the theatre, the Royal Shakespeare Company's strikingly contemporary production of Shakespeare’s Measure for Measure, directed by Gregory Doran, while in the concert hall our flourishing Resident Orchestra the London Symphony Orchestra, under Sir Simon Rattle, joined us to present Janáček’s humane opera, The Cunning Little Vixen, in a production by Peter Sellars.

We are fortunate indeed to be able to present this rich variety of work among so much else, celebrating our creative learning activity in its tenth year, our alliance with the Guildhall School of Music & Drama, and our support for young artists and creatives. We are grateful for the backing of the Barbican Board and the Trust, the City of London Corporation and all our growing band of Patrons and supporters. We were very busy during the early months of lockdown renewing the building and planning our successful reopening. We hope you’ve had chance to visit and very much look forward to welcoming you back.


Tom Sleigh
Chairman, Barbican Centre Board

The past year has seen the Barbican deliver a bold and inspiring programme across all art forms, championing the artistic community at the heart of the UK’s cultural life and internationally. This success fills me with immense excitement as I’m taking over as Chair of the Barbican Board. I would like to thank my predecessor, Dr Giles Shilson, for his outstanding work.

Despite the 2019/2020 year ending with the onset of the ongoing pandemic, there were many highlights over the past year, including great concerts, thrilling dance and theatre, thought-provoking film seasons and critically acclaimed exhibitions. We brought together the very best artists from across the UK and around the world to celebrate the richness of creativity in all its forms.

Working in partnership with our neighbours across east London on free festivals and events and developing opportunities for young people to find their creative voice continues to be an important part of ensuring the Barbican is open to all. Over the past year, we worked again with the London Borough of Waltham Forest and local creatives on the annual summer festival Walthamstow Garden Party and our free Young Barbican membership scheme of discounted tickets and exclusive events swelled to 78,000 members.

We also continue to develop the cultural community here on our doorstep as a leading partner in Culture Mile, a City of London Corporation initiative, who together with Guildhall School of Music & Drama, London Symphony Orchestra and Museum of London cultivate a vibrant destination for culture in the Square Mile.

Despite the obvious challenges that all cultural, artistic and civic venues now face, I know that the Board and management team have a shared resolve to create space for people and ideas to connect, and to offer arts and learning programmes that give everyone the opportunity to enjoy and benefit from culture.


Emma Kane
Chair, Barbican Centre Trust

It is my great pleasure to report on another successful year for the Barbican Centre Trust, the charitable arm of the Barbican. During 2019/20 we raised just under £2 million, and are immensely grateful for the generosity of all those who contributed. Your support is the difference that enables us to present an extraordinary arts and learning programme, and the fuel that allows us to deliver our vision.

We reached more than 40,000 people through our Creative Learning programmes last year – giving schools, communities, young people and families exposure to the joys of collaboration, empathy, creativity and a world of possibilities. We also offered free and subsidised tickets to enable young people to attend our broad range of world-class international art. It would simply not be possible to reach so many without the help of those who share our belief in the transformative power of the arts. We received major support from Wellcome, Esmée Fairbairn Foundation and the Terra Foundation for American Art, to name just a few, and formed partnerships with sponsors including Calvin Klein and Grosvenor. On top of that, we continue to value the support of our generous Patrons and all the donations we receive from our audiences. These are just some of the highlights resulting from the financial commitment of our hugely valued supporters over the past year.

At the start of this new decade, and with a backdrop of dramatic change in every aspect of life, it is my belief that culture will play a fundamental role in re-shaping our future. Your continued support will help us try to make the world a better place.

Thank you.

Sculpture Court, Barbican Centre © Max Colson

Reflecting on disruption

Our Managing Director, Sir Nicholas Kenyon, on the impact of the global pandemic on the Barbican and the wider arts sector.

Lakeside Terrace, Barbican © Max Colson

Lakeside Terrace, Barbican © Max Colson

The sudden enforced closure of the Barbican and other arts venues in March 2020 was a devastating blow to us all: artists, organisations, and audiences.

We were deprived of the experiences that enable us to connect, to share, and to be inspired. It was a cruel blow that at a time when we needed the arts most, our doors were shut, and activities stopped. It was inevitable that at the point when we needed to gather, we were told to keep apart, but it went against every instinct we have developed over the generations to bring people together.

However, it made us reflect both on the value of what we have and on the ways in which we could continue to connect with audiences. Like many arts organisations, we already had a digital offer that we continued to develop for online audiences. We were able to offer again some spectacular moments from the past, for example, Simon McBurney’s extraordinary one-man performance in The Encounter, made available by his company Complicité with its innovative use of technology. Digital art has become ever more important in our live offerings, for example in the theatre productions of Ivo van Hove and Katie Mitchell. Richard Mosse’s powerful installation Incoming in the Curve used advanced surveillance technology to capture and report on a humanitarian immigration crisis. Joy Buolamwini’s Gender Shades project revealed AI’s hidden biases and prejudices.

Now we are considering how the digital offerings that have become so much a natural part of the audience’s life during lockdown can be integrated into future blended models of presentation. With still limited numbers of live audiences in our theatres, cinemas and concert halls, work can be designed to communicate effectively through digital as well as live channels. One aspect of this will have to develop: the generous provision of much work online during lockdown was made freely, to maintain connections with audiences. This was a necessary and welcome initiative, but that work has a value that must now be returned to artists, performers and creative teams, so we have to work towards a model where those digital initiatives can earn a return to those who originated them.

It was one of the great ironies of the lockdown that it penalised both freelance artists who had no means of support other than through their activities, and those organisations that had most successfully met the government’s agenda to reduce their dependence on subsidy. At a stroke, all income disappeared: earnings, box office income, and the commercial income on which arts organisations had come to depend. The arts in this country have a successful model that is based on a complex ecology of support from government and other public sources, agencies, private fundraising and earned income. It is too early to say how many organisations will fall victim to the crisis and find it impossible to work towards a new business model, and it will be a tragic outcome of the pandemic if organisations close and jobs are lost in the creative industries that benefit this country so magnificently.

The crisis has caused us to reflect on other critical issues. Sustainability is a massive consideration, particularly the impact of international touring, with its large carbon footprint, energy use, and the relationship of our work to local communities. The economic health of our great cities – fuelled by culture, especially in London – depends on tourism, which may take a long time to recover. The diversity of our workforce is a constant issue, and the recent months have raised awareness of inequality and power that large organisations like ours have to confront boldly. We are increasing our urgent work on anti-racism, equality and inclusion.

Everything points to a more humane approach. We need to start small and rebuild trust, and as I write we are just beginning to reopen parts of the Barbican including our Gallery with its superb, Masculinities: Liberation through Photography, our green Conservatory, and our new Curve commission by Nigerian-American artist, Toyin Ojih Odutola. We will continue to expand this opening offer in line with Government guidelines. What we offer in the arts must feel vital, connected, and valuable in the recovery of our national life. We will play our part in the continued revival of London as a world centre of commerce, culture and creativity. As a result of the pandemic, we can say that we will be back, but we will not be the same.

Programme

Creating space for people and ideas to connect

How our international arts programme, community events and learning activities identify new talent, nurture artists, and support work that responds to today’s world.

Trevor Paglen From 'Apple' to 'Anomaly' © Tim P. Whitby, Getty Images

Trevor Paglen From 'Apple' to 'Anomaly' © Tim P. Whitby, Getty Images

Over the past year, the Barbican has continued to pursue its vision of arts without boundaries.

This year, we presented 3,835 events across all of our art forms – music, visual arts, film, theatre and dance – featuring 4,310 artists from 58 nations. Our arts and learning programme is inspired by the wealth of local and international talent and perspectives, and we’re proud to have welcomed 1,128,000 people to Barbican events and exhibitions, as well as many thousands of additional visitors who attended our free, unticketed events, or who came to enjoy our public spaces such as Level G or the Lakeside.

Our art galleries hosted a diverse programme of exhibitions and installations. Highlights included our exhibition, Lee Krasner: Living Colour, the first retrospective of the American artist in Europe in over 50 years, as well as our major exhibition, AI: More than Human, a timely and stimulating survey about our relationship with artificial intelligence. We also presented artist Trevor Paglen’s thought-provoking Curve commission, From ‘Apple’ to ‘Anomaly’, which invited visitors to take a critical look at how artificial intelligence networks are taught to ‘perceive’ and ‘see’ the world.

In our cinemas, we presented, Bebop New York: Birth of the American Indie, showcasing films made in New York from the mid-50s to the mid-60s, all emerging from the city’s burgeoning bohemia. Highlights included the cult John Cassavettes film, Shadows, and an evening of short films by women who were pioneers of independent American cinema.

We hosted our sixth Pit Party, a collaboration with artist Jamie Hale and their creative team of D/deaf and disabled artists titled, CRIPtic. Fluid in format, these performances take place in The Pit and invite a guest artist, producer or organisation to curate a programme of work by multiple artists that interest and inspire them. Jamie Hale’s first solo show was a multimedia journey of poetry and narrative storytelling, exploring what it means to be human in a world in which D/deaf and disabled people are sometimes dehumanised. We also staged the Barbican commission and world premiere of REDD by the Olivier Award-winning hip hop dance theatre company Boy Blue, which explored the profound impact of grief on an individual – and the process of overcoming it.

In 2019, we celebrated Barbican Guildhall Creative Learning’s tenth anniversary. Over the past decade, we have supported more than 100,000 people of all ages and backgrounds to develop creative skills for life. To mark this milestone, we held a celebratory event in our Conservatory and premiered two creative commissions developed especially for the occasion – a film by a group of Young Creatives alumni, and a poem composed by Young Poets alumnus Kareem Parkins-Brown. And we launched Towards a Creative Curriculum, a new conference in collaboration with RSC Education designed to help teachers and arts professionals working in schools develop a curriculum that successfully embeds the arts within the new Ofsted framework.

Another exciting milestone celebrated last year was the 50th Anniversary of the Art Ensemble of Chicago at the Barbican. We marked the occasion as part of the EFG London Jazz Festival 2019 with a special tribute to the ensemble – and the incredible musical vision of its founder, Roscoe Mitchell – renowned for integrating musical styles that span the history of jazz and multi-instrumental group improvisations.

In May, we staged the third edition of our classical music festival, Sound Unbound, presenting artists for whom the boundaries between classical and contemporary, experimental and jazz are blurred – or never even existed in the first place. With over 70 short concerts and events, the weekend-long free event saw visitors explore music ranging from authentic medieval sounds to hypnotic, minimalist masterpieces, in a relaxed festival environment. With multiple concerts taking place simultaneously across the Barbican, as well as throughout the City of London’s Culture Mile, in medieval churches and in surrounding venues, each festival-goer was able to pick and choose from a vast range of performances and create their own unique version of Sound Unbound.

Inspired by the bold ideas and creativity of communities, we believe that working and learning in partnership with our neighbours and the wider industry is vital for developing brave, inclusive, sustainable projects and networks that grow communities. Over the past year, our Beyond Barbican team, in collaboration with community organisations and local councils, created free events attended by 87,783 people, and our Level G team organised an exciting public programme of free events, talks and installations that invited fresh perspectives and provoked topical conversations.

As a not-for-profit arts centre, we feel it’s our responsibility to offer the widest possible access to culture, giving everyone the opportunity to encounter and enjoy creativity. Together with your help, we’ll be able to continue investing in our arts and learning programme. Find out more about how to support us.

Walthamstow Garden Party 2019 © Gar Powell-Evans

Walthamstow Garden Party 2019 © Gar Powell-Evans

Sound Unbound 2019 © Mark Allan

Sound Unbound 2019 © Mark Allan

Boy Blue, REDD © Carl Fox

Boy Blue, REDD © Carl Fox

Walthamstow Garden Party 2019 © Gar Powell-Evans

Walthamstow Garden Party 2019 © Gar Powell-Evans

Sound Unbound 2019 © Mark Allan

Sound Unbound 2019 © Mark Allan

Boy Blue, REDD © Carl Fox

Boy Blue, REDD © Carl Fox

Rediscovering an icon

Jane Alison, our Head of Visual Arts, on how our critically acclaimed exhibition of Lee Krasner celebrated the impact of her century-defining work.

Lee Krasner: Living Colour, installation view with Palingenesis, 1971, Barbican Art Gallery © Tristan Fewings/Getty Images

Lee Krasner: Living Colour, installation view with Palingenesis, 1971, Barbican Art Gallery © Tristan Fewings/Getty Images

In summer 2019, we opened our landmark exhibition, Lee Krasner: Living Colour, the first retrospective of the American artist held in Europe in over 50 years. One of the pioneers of Abstract Expressionism, Lee Krasner (1908–84) was a defining artist of the 20th century.

The exhibition brought together nearly 100 works – many on show in the UK for the first time – from across her 50-year career. Deftly curated by our own Eleanor Nairne, the visitor was taken on a journey through Krasner’s career, including her striking early self-portraits; a body of energetic charcoal life drawings created under the tutelage of Hans Hofmann; little-known collages; and, of course, a comprehensive selection of her most impressive large-scale, abstract paintings. Finally allowing her to receive the recognition she deserves, the exhibition was a true revelation of an artist with tremendous attitude, verve and ability, always challenging herself, always willing to explore new paths.

What is wonderful about the Barbican as a multi-disciplinary Centre is the opportunities it provides to join with colleagues to complement the exhibition with a full range of events. The exhibition presented the perfect platform to explore what was happening in film-making and music in the 1950s and 1960s, when artists across all disciplines were advocating for freedom from convention and the expression of real feeling. Alongside a full range of talks with Krasner scholars, the Art Gallery hosted live jazz performance – including trumpet player Mark Kavuma’s musical response to one of Krasner’s favourite jazz records, Thelonius Monk’s 1957 album, Brilliant Corners.

The creative inventiveness and cutting-edge style of Krasner’s work also inspired an exciting programme of events for young people and a family day attended by over 800 visitors. Our Creative Learning team organised drawing workshops led by artists, Esther Bunting and Florence Peake, and we ran a reading workshop with poet and tutor, Tamar Yoseloff, exploring the ways the written word influenced Krasner’s imagery. Through our Community Views, we invited community groups and charities to see the exhibition for free, including refugee and homeless groups, groups for elderly people and individuals with learning disabilities – many of who had never visited the Barbican before.

We were delighted to partner with art institutions of stature across Europe to ensure that many more people could see this wonderful exhibition – the Schirn Kunsthalle in Frankfurt, the Zentrum Paul Klee in Bern, and the Guggenheim Museum, Bilbao. None of this would have been possible without the cooperation, support and confidence of the Pollock-Krasner Foundation and countless lenders across the world. We are also grateful to all those who generously supported this exhibition, in particular the Terra Foundation for American Art, Art Fund, the Lee Krasner Exhibition Circle members and our sponsors, tp bennett and Sotheby’s.

Images (l-r): Lee Krasner, Bald Eagle, 1955 Collection of Audrey Irmas, Los Angeles. © The Pollock-Krasner Foundation, Photograph by Jonathan Urban; Lee Krasner Desert Moon, 1955, Los Angeles County Museum of Art. © The Pollock-Krasner Foundation, © 2018. Digital Image Museum Associates/ LACMA/Art Resource NY/ Scala, Florence; Lee Krasner c.1938, Photographer unknown.

Images (l-r): Lee Krasner, Bald Eagle, 1955 Collection of Audrey Irmas, Los Angeles. © The Pollock-Krasner Foundation, Photograph by Jonathan Urban; Lee Krasner Desert Moon, 1955, Los Angeles County Museum of Art. © The Pollock-Krasner Foundation, © 2018. Digital Image Museum Associates/ LACMA/Art Resource NY/ Scala, Florence; Lee Krasner c.1938, Photographer unknown.

‘A confident, intelligent exhibition, presenting Lee Krasner in her rightful position as one of the most important painters of the 20th Century … go and see it if you can’
BBC News

Barbican Guildhall Creative Learning’s ten-year anniversary

Our Senior Producer, Lauren Monaghan-Pisano, on ten years of supporting people of all ages and backgrounds to access and engage with the arts.

Barbican Young Poets, A Change is Gonna Come, 2018 © Camilla Greenwell

Barbican Young Poets, A Change is Gonna Come, 2018 © Camilla Greenwell

‘It is very unlikely that I’d have had the audacity to try and pursue a career in the arts without Creative Learning. You lot changed my life’
Omar Bynon, Young Poets alumnus

In autumn 2019, Barbican Guildhall Creative Learning celebrated ten years of supporting over 100,000 people of all ages and backgrounds to develop creative skills for life. This vital work spans art forms including film, music, theatre, dance, visual arts and poetry, and continues even in these challenging times.

This milestone anniversary was marked with the publication of Barbican Guildhall Creative Learning: 10 Years in Review, featuring highlights from each year of Creative Learning’s extensive work, telling a wider story about the depth and richness of our programme. We were delighted to include an essay from children’s author Michael Rosen, a regular collaborator on our flagship schools programme, Barbican Box, and a poem by Kareem Parkins-Brown, an alumnus of our Young Poets programme. Both artists are valued members of our ever-expanding creative community.

Our achievements over the past decade were made possible by the brilliant partnerships we have – with schools, teachers, artists, young people and community organisations – locally, nationally and internationally. These partnerships are a core part of our programme and ensure that genuine exchange, co-creation and two-way learning are at the heart of what we do.

Since the formation of Barbican Guildhall Creative Learning in 2009, the department has gone from strength to strength and our team now delivers more than 40 programmes and events alongside 150 partners to over 22,000 direct participants every year. This is testament to the demand for our work, the generous support of the programme’s funders, and to all those who continue to support us on this journey.

As our Creative Learning programme steps into a new decade, the work will be underpinned by three core pillars: Education, Employability and Enrichment. In our ever-changing social and political times, it is vital that the Barbican and Guildhall School continue to lead the way in championing a wide range of voices and stories, advocating for the unique role that arts-based learning can play in supporting us all to realise our potential. We know that the arts have the power to transform lives and we will continue to work with our partners so that everyone can discover and engage in an enduring love of the arts and develop their own creative skills for life.

Find out more about supporting our future Creative Learning programmes.


Reflecting on an exceptional year of cinema

Gali Gold, our Head of Cinema, on the most successful year for our cinema programme to date.

This year Barbican Cinema achieved its best-ever performance, with strong income and great audience attendance across our entire programme. Anime’s Human Machines in September 2019 was our most successful curated season ever. We hosted sold-out screenings and visiting artists from Japan – including Shōji Kawamori, who contributed mechanical design work to two pivotal films in our season, Patlabor: The Movie (1989) and Ghost in the Shell (1995) – took part in ScreenTalks, workshops and live events. The impressive selection of eight landmark films covered a variety of perspectives on humanity and technology. It was a significant moment for many visitors to enjoy these films, which are rarely seen on the big screen.

Watch a video essay inspired by 'Anime's Human Machines' cinema season.

We welcomed some of the most prestigious film-makers of our time, including Bong Joon-ho in a preview of his latest film, Parasite, prior to winning three Academy awards; Pedro Almodovar in a preview of Pain and Glory; and, Syrian film maker, Waad Al-Kateab with her Oscar-nominated documentary, For Sama, hosted by Krishnan Guru-Murthy.

Our Borders and Boundaries season marked the 30th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall and looked at how man-made borders across the world have been represented and challenged in film. Hidden Figures showcased the work of notable directors who deserve greater recognition in the UK, and the Family Film Weekender presented thematically curated family programmes of international films for young audiences.

Equality and inclusion are a central part of our cinema programme and over the past year, we have shown many films and hosted on-stage events and talks promoting the work of women, LGBTQI+, Black, Asian and minority ethnic people, as well as other marginalised voices. One highlight was Forbidden Colours, a programme celebrating rarely seen, queer-focused films from places where LGBTQ+ people still suffer societal oppression and struggle for equality. Barbican Cinema also received the Autism Friendly Award from the National Autistic Society in February 2020, a real milestone for our relaxed screenings programme.

‘Once Pride in London ends this weekend, the banks, supermarkets and sandwich chains will drop their rainbow-coloured logos and revert to business as usual. Perfect timing, then, for the Barbican, in the east of the capital, to launch Forbidden Colours, a series of films made in countries hostile to the rights of LGBT people’
Ryan Gilbey, Guardian

Sadly, our successful year came to a halt with the Barbican’s temporary closure in mid-March. We had just opened the Human Rights Watch Film Festival to a full house, and we were counting down the days until the launch of Chronic Youth, the Barbican Young Programmers’ annual festival of vibrant and inspiring films for and about young people scheduled to take place later that month.

The creative energy and drive to connect people and ideas through film does not stop, however, and cinema has been developing its digital offer, making the best use of technology to connect with our audiences.

We look forward to our return to the Centre and our venues, and continuing our commitment to provide the collective cinema experience that we all miss and crave.


The power of collaboration

Toni Racklin, our Head of Theatre and Dance, on what makes a successful co-production.

Merce Cunningham Trust, Night of 100 Solos: A Centennial Event, ensemble © Stephen Wright

Merce Cunningham Trust, Night of 100 Solos: A Centennial Event, ensemble © Stephen Wright

You may have seen some amazing, inspiring, even life-changing shows at the Barbican. But how do we bring these productions to our stages?

This year we were extremely fortunate to work again with Viviana Durante Company, to stage their dynamic triple-bill, Isadora Now; with Mthuthuzeli November on the world premiere of Ingoma (Song), performed by Ballet Black; and with Trevor Carlson on his intimate one-man multimedia show, Not A Moment Too Soon.

How did we get these projects off the ground? Firstly, by establishing close working relationships with Viviana, Mthuthuzeli, Trevor, and their wider teams; secondly, by giving them time, space and a financial contribution to turn ideas into reality; and thirdly by supporting them throughout the creative process.

We had many collaborative discussions with Viviana Durante Company from the outset on the artistic direction of the performance, which supported the company in shaping the project into a triple-bill. Performed by an ensemble of seven women, it celebrated the pioneer of contemporary dance, Isadora Duncan. Her rarely seen, Dance of the Furies, was followed by Frederick Ashton’s Five Brahms Waltzes in the Manner of Isadora Duncan. The evening was completed by our specially commissioned world premiere, Unda, choreographed by Joy Alpuerto Ritter. It was exciting to see the influence of Duncan’s feminist legacy on this generation of dance practitioners.

‘Isadora Now is a fascinating project, an intelligent and emotion-laden homage to a woman who changed the face of dance forever'
Culture Whisper

Ballet Black has an important place in our programme and always attracts full houses. In between performances, our team regularly visits the rehearsal studio in west London. For this year we commissioned company member, Mthuthuzeli November, to choreograph his first full-length ballet, Ingoma (Song). Based on a landmark moment in South African history, it was nominated for an Olivier Award.

Watch an interview with choreographer and Ballet Black company member, Mthuthuzeli November

Not A Moment Too Soon was a revealing insight into the life of the visionary American choreographer Merce Cunningham through the personal and professional testimony of his former executive producer and performer, Trevor Carlson. Presented in the year of Cunningham’s centenary, the work-in-progress version we first saw was in Spain, Trevor’s adopted home. We seized opportunities to talk to him about the show that eventually developed into an astonishingly distinctive work, which we paired with Night of 100 Solos in our Theatre. Both were heartfelt tributes to a giant of contemporary dance on what would have been his 100th birthday.


Ambitious programming and sublime music

Huw Humphreys, our Head of Music, on a year of invention and celebration for classical and contemporary music at the Barbican.

Herbie Hancock with LA Phil/Dudamel, Barbican Hall, November 2019 © Mark Allan

Herbie Hancock with LA Phil/Dudamel, Barbican Hall, November 2019 © Mark Allan

Some standout highlights of the last year have been our weekenders: the classical music festival Sound Unbound in May 2019, and the Beethoven Weekender in February 2020 supported by DHL. Weekenders always bring the Barbican to life in an inspiring way. Our Beethoven Weekender explored the composer’s life and music at the beginning of what we hoped would be a year of celebrations for his 250th anniversary. With Beethoven’s works presented in fresh and informal ways, performances from five of the UK’s top orchestras, plus an exhibition from his birth house in Bonn, audiences were able to explore the music in a relaxed festival atmosphere.

‘I have never seen the Barbican so packed, buzzy and full of buggies and babies, as well as those of us able to stagger round by ourselves. Quite apart from the music-making, the centre’s Beethoven Weekender must be deemed a triumphant social event’
Richard Morrison, The Times

Our longstanding international orchestral partnership with the Los Angeles Philharmonic and Gustavo Dudamel continued with another electrifying residency marking their centenary year and featured guest performances from pianist, Yuja Wang, as part of her Artist Spotlight series, and jazz legend, Herbie Hancock, in a concert complementing his visit to the Barbican as part of the EFG London Jazz Festival 2019. Another highlight of the residency was an open rehearsal with the Tuning into Change orchestra. The orchestra comprised of young artists from the UK and the US who performed together in the Hall, conducted by Dudamel. In 2019, we also saw the second residency from our International Associate Ensemble at Milton Court – the Australian Chamber Orchestra. Players demonstrated typical versatility with performances ranging from Bach, to Stravinsky, to Vasks, plus collaborations with Guildhall Musicians, and Luminous, a multimedia project in collaboration with Australian photographer Bill Henson.

Minimalist Dream House with Bryce Dessner and Thom Yorke, Barbican Hall, April 2019 © Mark Allan

Minimalist Dream House with Bryce Dessner and Thom Yorke, Barbican Hall, April 2019 © Mark Allan

Other examples of new and inventive programming included Ada Lovelace: Imagining the Analytical Engine in November, generously supported by PRS Foundation’s The Open Fund, which celebrated the work of one of the early pioneers of the computer. The event included Barbican-commissioned world premieres, performances with newly created instruments, and discussion, all curated by composer, Emily Howard. In April, Minimalist Dream House brought together a group of genre-pushing artists featuring pianists Katia and Marielle Labèque, with David Chalmin, Bryce Dessner and Thom Yorke. And in July, the London Contemporary Orchestra performed Clint Mansell’s otherworldly score for Duncan Jones’s Moon, side by side with a screening of the film for the first time.

With other Barbican-commissioned projects such as Max Cooper’s Yearning for the Infinite and collaborations with our family of orchestras, the past year has been defined by ambitious and boundary-defying programming to bring sublime music to our audiences.

Watch the performance of Max Cooper's 'Yearning for the Infinite', filmed at the Barbican on 28 September 2019.


Questioning the line between human and machine

Luke Kemp and Patrick Moran, our Co-Acting Heads of Barbican International Enterprises, on our major exhibition AI: More than Human, which looked at our relationship with artificial intelligence.

AI: More than Huma, Barbican Centre – 16 May-26 August 2019. Alter 3 © Hiroshi Ishiguro, Takashi Ikegami and Itsuki Doi. Credit: Tristan Fewings/Getty Images

AI: More than Huma, Barbican Centre – 16 May-26 August 2019. Alter 3 © Hiroshi Ishiguro, Takashi Ikegami and Itsuki Doi. Credit: Tristan Fewings/Getty Images

What does it mean to be human today? That was the central question of our 2019 exhibition, AI: More than Human. Curated by our Barbican International Enterprises (BIE) team, which develops touring exhibitions with a focus on contemporary culture, emerging technology and digital creativity, this was a comprehensive survey of creative and scientific developments in artificial intelligence (AI), looking at the relationship between humans and technology.

Part of Life Rewired, the Barbican’s 2019 cross-arts season, this exhibition brought together artists, scientists and researchers to unravel the rapidly developing story of AI and its place in society. The exhibition covered AI’s extraordinary ancient roots in Japanese Shintoism; Ada Lovelace and Charles Babbage’s early experiments in computing; and AI’s major developments from the 1940s to the present day. AI: More than Human spanned literature, film, robots, and scientific hardware, as well as several newly commissioned contemporary artworks to show how an age-old dream of creating intelligence has become today’s reality.

Over the course of four months, more than 90,000 people visited the exhibition to experience first-hand the capabilities of AI in the form of cutting-edge research projects by DeepMind, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and Neri Oxman, and to interact directly with exhibits and installations from artists including Es Devlin, Mario Klingemann, Massive Attack, and Japanese art collective teamLab.

Alongside the main exhibition, we presented a thought-provoking programme of conferences, talks and free public events in spaces across the Barbican for schools, young people and communities to examine the subject from multiple perspectives and through different interactive formats.

We are grateful to Bupa Global, CMS and The AI Summit for generously supporting this important exhibition. BIE tours each exhibition internationally for between three and five years, and the first tour venue for AI: More than Human is the exhibition co-producer Forum Groningen, which opened in December 2019. This will be followed by exhibitions in Liverpool and Madrid in 2021.

‘In its narrow opening rooms, each a sinuous, curtained pod, the show successfully taps into a universal emotion. AI, we understand, may be a new world, but it is anchored in an ancient human desire to play God’
Harry de Quetteville, Daily Telegraph

Always open, always free

Our Senior Producer, Siddharth Khajuria, discusses how a programme continues to turn our public foyers into an experimental platform for people to explore art and ideas about the forces shaping our lives today.

Food Assembly at the Life Rewired Hub, July 2019 © Method

Food Assembly at the Life Rewired Hub, July 2019 © Method

On Level G, our programme of experimental installations, artist residencies and public events sits beside all those who visit our foyer spaces every day: freelancers working on laptops, students revising, parents and toddlers playing, and audiences rushing around with coffees and beers before concerts and conferences.

We use this busy environment as a platform for projects that ask questions, spark conversations and bring people together. With a commitment to nurturing new forms of cultural activity, our work is shaped by collaborative practice and developed with people from a range of sectors – including science, media, and tech – to create space for perspectives from the arts and beyond.

One of the highlights of last year’s programme was the Life Rewired Hub, a micro-venue hosting a programme of more than 90 talks, workshops and exhibitions examining the impact of technological change on society. Topics included the future of humanitarian work in India; the link between genetics and schizophrenia; the future of food consumption; and dating in an age of technology. Developed in collaboration with the British Council, Royal Society and Wellcome, the Hub welcomed nearly 30,000 visitors during the year.

In October 2019, New Suns, a platform for feminist literature and art-making curated by Sarah Shin in collaboration with Barbican producer, Razia Jordan, returned to the Barbican for a second year. Comprising a bookfair and a day of talks, workshops and screenings, this year’s edition explored the relationships between contemporary feminism and technology. Over 5,000 visitors spent time on Level G or took part in discussions, with speakers including writer Reni Eddo-Lodge and the joint winner of the 2019 Turner Prize, Tai Shani. The dozens of publishers present at the bookfair included Feminist Library, Granta, Hachette, Independent Alliance, London Review Bookshop, Penguin Random House, Peninsula Press and SemiotextI / MIT.


Becoming London’s Most Accessible Venue

Lakeside Terrace, Barbican Centre © Max Colson

Lakeside Terrace, Barbican Centre © Max Colson

Accessibility is an important aspect of our work as we want all audiences to enjoy our programme. But these efforts are not limited to our artistic offer; we also aim to ensure people visiting the Centre – whether to perform, take part in a workshop, or simply to relax or study – can access the facilities they need so that their visit is comfortable and welcoming.

In February this year, we were incredibly proud to be named London’s Most Accessible Venue for audiences by disabled access charity, Euan’s Guide. The award highlighted our wide range of accessible performances, including audio-described, sensory friendly, captioned and BSL shows, plus our Changing Places toilet facility.

We were also delighted to receive the National Autistic Society’s Autism Friendly Award in recognition of adjustments made to our cinemas and surrounding spaces, making them more welcoming spaces for neurodiverse audiences. We are determined to roll out these changes across the wider Centre where possible, so that all audience members feel at ease in their surroundings.

Gali Gold, Head of Barbican Cinema, receiving the National Autistic Society’s Autism Friendly Award © Justin Pipeger

Gali Gold, Head of Barbican Cinema, receiving the National Autistic Society’s Autism Friendly Award © Justin Pipeger

We recognise that accessibility is a process – something we must constantly consider in all our work – rather than an end goal that can simply be achieved and ticked off the list. It’s therefore very important to us to programme performances that are accessible to a wide range of audiences.

For example, in December last year we staged To the Moon and Back, an immersive, participatory experience from M-SET (Multi-Sensory Educational Theatre) jointly commissioned by our Theatre and Creative Learning departments. The show, inspired by the 50th anniversary of the moon landing, involved a multi-sensory journey of discovery into interactive spaces of touch, colour, sound and special effects aimed at children aged three months to four years old.

The show began performances for primary and special educational needs and disability (SEND) school groups before beginning its sold-out public run. All performances were relaxed, meaning audiences were welcome to move around and make noise during the show, which is particularly suitable for those with learning disabilities, sensory or communication needs. In addition, we ran CPD sessions for primary and SEND teachers, inspired by the techniques used in the show. We were very excited that the production received an Olivier Award nomination for Best Family Show.


Another year of extraordinary performances

We’re proud to be the home of the Royal Shakespeare Company in London as it continues to bring its outstanding work to our stage.

Royal Shakespeare Company’s The Taming of the Shrew © Ikin Yum / RSC

Royal Shakespeare Company’s The Taming of the Shrew © Ikin Yum / RSC

This year’s performances saw As You Like It, The Taming of the Shrew and Measure for Measure transferring from Stratford-upon-Avon to the Barbican. This trio of works explored themes of morality, love, power and gender – strikingly resonant for today’s audiences. Every one of the 27-strong ensemble starred in at least two of the productions.

As You Like It, directed by Kimberley Sykes, ingeniously paired the Forest of Arden with the backstage area of a theatre in an immersive, behind-the-scenes look at Shakespeare’s lively characters. Justin Audibert cleverly subverted gender stereotypes in The Taming of the Shrew, highlighting issues the play throws up about abuses of power. Meanwhile, RSC Artistic Director Gregory Doran drew on contemporary debates post #MeToo to create an impactful, Measure for Measure.

To round off the season, we jointly hosted Towards a Creative Curriculum, a one-day conference for teachers and arts professionals working in schools that featured keynote speeches, panel discussions, workshops and a provocation by artist Bob and Roberta Smith.


The LSO, the Barbican’s resident orchestra, enjoyed another year of great collaborations

The Cunning Little Vixen featuring Lucy Crowe, London Symphony Orchestra/Rattle, Barbican Hall © Mark Allan / LSO

The Cunning Little Vixen featuring Lucy Crowe, London Symphony Orchestra/Rattle, Barbican Hall © Mark Allan / LSO

In June 2019, we collaborated with the London Symphony Orchestra (LSO) on two striking, semi-staged concerts of Janáček’s opera, The Cunning Little Vixen, conducted by Sir Simon Rattle and directed by Peter Sellars. The traditional all-British opening concert for the 2019–20 season featured another Barbican commission for Sir Simon Rattle and the LSO, Emily Howard’s Antisphere. The LSO joined us in celebration of Beethoven’s 250th anniversary year in early 2020, playing a series of concerts pairing Beethoven’s works with music by Alban Berg. The opening two programmes included Beethoven’s Symphony No 7, with later performances of two great choral works: the Ninth Symphony and the rarely performed oratorio, Christ on the Mount of Olives.

In May 2019, the London Symphony Chorus (LSC) and LSO Discovery’s composers and musicians from the Guildhall School of Music & Drama represented the orchestra at the Barbican’s biannual, Sound Unbound festival in a programme featuring, Carmina Burana, directed by Simon Halsey, and Amir Konjani’s ambitious installation with video art, performing sculpture and movement at LSO St Luke’s.

LSO Discovery also collaborated with Barbican Guildhall Creative Learning and the National Open Youth Orchestra (NOYO) and on 19 February 2020, NOYO completed a taster workshop as part of LSO Discovery’s Make Music Day for young people with learning disabilities and their families. The session was led by NOYO Assistant Musical Director Charlie Groves and workshop leader Bea Hubble, alongside Leo, a current member of the NOYO ensemble.

The theme of the Make Music Day was ‘How to Build an Orchestra’ and Beethoven’s Sixth Symphony. NOYO created a soundscape of a sunrise in response to the first movement, and after each workshop the piece was performed to all participants in the Hall in sharing sessions.


Supporting our programme

Natasha Harris, our new Director of Development, on the transformative support of our donors, funders and corporate partners.

Greenleaf Primary School, Barbican Guildhall Creative Learning Associate School 2016-19 supported by Development © Matthew Kaltenborn

Greenleaf Primary School, Barbican Guildhall Creative Learning Associate School 2016-19 supported by Development © Matthew Kaltenborn

I was immensely proud to be given the opportunity join the Barbican as the new Director of Development at the start of 2020. Though we’ve weathered considerable challenges since then, this doesn’t prevent us from reflecting on what a tremendous year 2019/20 was for the Barbican, and how lucky we are to have such an amazing group of donors, funders and corporate partners to enable our artistic and education work to flourish.

We have seen some truly amazing projects in 2019/20, realised with the help of several transformative grants and sponsorships. We engaged diverse audiences with health-related themes in the Life Rewired programme – spanning cinema, visual arts, music, theatre, creative learning and public programmes – thanks to a generous grant from Wellcome. We made strides in improving public access to the Barbican Guildhall archive collections, using funding from the National Lottery Heritage Fund to engage audiences and communities with our heritage. Our visual arts programme benefited from vital exhibition sponsorships, including Grosvenor’s support of Into the Night: Cabarets and Clubs in Modern Art and Calvin Klein’s support of Masculinities: Liberation Through Photography.

We extend our gratitude to our brilliant community of supporter groups, first to our wonderful Patrons for their unwavering belief in our work, especially those who have joined our new highest-level group, the Director’s Circle, whose launch was recently hosted by the Lord Mayor and Lady Mayoress at Mansion House. Many thanks, also, to our invaluable network of corporate members who support the Barbican’s work while giving their staff and stakeholders special access to our programme. We are delighted to welcome Howden M&A and Pinsent Masons as our newest members of this network. We are also pleased to note that this year marks five years of support from corporate member Aberdeen Standard Investments.

This has also been an excellent year for audience giving. We raised just under £100,000 from our loyal audiences during 2019–20, including from those making a donation while purchasing a ticket, responding to an appeal, or using one of our on-site donation points.

Our thanks to everyone for their support over the past year in raising just under £2million. Every penny helped us to deliver another outstanding artistic programme, providing support for our artists and associates, and access for community groups, families, children and young people. To keep our programme accessible to everyone, and to invest in the artists we work with, we need to raise more than 60% of our income through ticket sales, commercial activities and fundraising every year.

Our Associates

Academy of Ancient Music

Academy of Ancient Music, Handel’s Brockes Passion, Barbican Hall © Robert Workman / AAM

The Academy of Ancient Music gave a 300th anniversary performance of Handel’s Brockes Passion, setting down a new edition of the score using the best available modern knowledge, taken from fifteen sources around the world. The recording of the performance at the Barbican became the first major Handel work to feature at the top of the Specialist Classical Chart and was subsequently selected as Choral & Song Choice in BBC Music Magazine, Editor’s Choice in Gramophone, and one of the Sunday Times’ Top Recordings of the Year.

BBC Symphony Orchestra

BBC Symphony Orchestra/Jules Buckley with Lianne La Havas, Barbican Hall © Mark Allan

The BBC Symphony Orchestra (BBC SO) collaborated with Lianne La Havas in a live orchestral performance conducted and arranged by the BBC SO’s new Creative Artist in Association, Jules Buckley. Chief Conductor Sakari Oramo led the BBC SO in a rare performance of William Alwyn’s opera, Miss Julie, while Total Immersion: Lili and Nadia Boulanger saw a celebration of two extraordinary female composers in a day of concerts, talks and events.

Boy Blue

Boy Blue, REDD, Tanaka Bingwa, Kenrick ‘H2O’ Sandy, Emma Houston © Carl Fox

In September 2019, Boy Blue premiered REDD in our Theatre. This Barbican commission – a full-length hip-hop dance theatre show and meditation on grief – won accolades from audiences and critics alike. Blak Whyte Gray (2017), co-commissioned by the Barbican and nominated for an Olivier award, was presented at the Norfolk and Norwich Festival and at the Lincoln Center in New York.

Meanwhile, Boy Blue’s production of Emancipation of Expressionism (2013), filmed at the Barbican in 2017, remains on the GCSE dance syllabus for students throughout England, and the company’s weekly training programme for young people continues to thrive.

Britten Sinfonia

Britten Sinfonia © Ben Ealovega

A season of outstanding musical exploration included the finale of Britten Sinfonia and Thomas Adès's acclaimed Beethoven Symphony Cycle, the world premiere of Mark-Anthony Turnage's Refugee, and a central role in the Barbican's Ada Lovelace event, generously supported by PRS Foundation’s The Open Fund. Known for its close artistic collaborations with leading international artists, Britten Sinfonia worked with Steve Reich and Gerhard Richter in a project co-promoted with the Barbican and rediscovered Mozart with pianist Benjamin Grosvenor in the autumn, and joined Opera Rara for a Donizetti rarity – Il Paria (The Outcast) – conducted by Sir Mark Elder in the spring.

Create London

Useful and Beautiful Craft Marquee by Create London at Walthamstow Garden Party 2019

Every year the Barbican, Create London and the London Borough of Waltham Forest produce Walthamstow Garden Party, a free summer festival celebrating Waltham Forest’s creative and cultural communities. This annual event sees two days of food, music-making and family activity delivered in partnership with local organisations. In 2019, Create’s Useful + Beautiful Craft Marquee was transformed into HAUS PARTY, a large-scale, participatory making activity for families led by artist Joceline Howe. The project was coproduced by Create Jobs, which helps young Londoners into jobs in the creative industries, with additional support from Stow Brothers.

Cheek by Jowl

Cheek by Jowl, The Knight of the Burning Pestle © Johan Persson

The Knight of the Burning Pestle featured Cheek by Jowl’s ‘dizzyingly skilful’ (The Stage) Russian ensemble, last seen at the Barbican in Measure for Measure in 2015. The show also performed internationally to rave reviews in Spain, Poland, Russia and France, receiving two best production awards in Moscow. This was followed by The Revenger’s Tragedy, the company’s first-ever Italian-language production in collaboration with the Piccolo Teatro di Milano, earning praise for its ‘enthralling’ ensemble and ‘bravura staging’ (Telegraph).

Drum Works

Drum Works at Walthamstow Garden Party 2019 © Richard Hughes

Drum Works uses drumming as a tool to inspire creativity, build social cohesion and empower young people to direct their own futures. Around 600 people take part every week through five partner schools, two community programmes and three progression ensembles. As part of 2019’s Walthamstow Garden Party, 200 members of Drum Works came together for their biggest-ever mass performance.

Michael Clark Company

Michael Clark in Because We Must, 1987 (part of Barbican Art Gallery’s Michael Clark: Cosmic Dancer exhibition) © Richard Haughton

Michael Clark Company delivered workshops for students at London Studio Centre and at Centres for Advanced Training (CATs) across the UK and were part of a project to restage excerpts from important past productions with second year undergraduates at Trinity Laban. In autumn 2020 Barbican Art Gallery will open a major Michael Clark exhibition, supported by the Sotheby’s Prize. The company is working closely with the curatorial team, providing access to an extensive archive of film, photography and costumes, facilitating contact with artists and collaborators and advising on the exhibition’s catalogue and public programme.

Serious

Art Ensemble of Chicago, Barbican Hall, November 2019 © Mark Allan

Serious brought together the cast of the legendary BBC Radio 4 series, Dead Ringers, for a run in the Theatre, and presented a week of concerts with Ludovico Einaudi in the Hall that included the premiere of his new work, The Illustrated Afternoon. It also created a programme within the EFG London Jazz Festival that ranged from Iggy Pop to a celebration of the Art Ensemble of Chicago featuring Shabaka Hutchings and Abel Selaocoe. Concerts included John McLaughlin, Chilly Gonzales, Brad Mehldau, and an all-female edition of the arts festival Imagining Ireland, created with writer Sinéad Gleeson and National Concert Hall Dublin, and featuring Imelda May and Lisa O’Neill.

Academy of Ancient Music, Handel’s Brockes Passion, Barbican Hall © Robert Workman / AAM

Academy of Ancient Music, Handel’s Brockes Passion, Barbican Hall © Robert Workman / AAM

BBC Symphony Orchestra/Jules Buckley with Lianne La Havas, Barbican Hall © Mark Allan

BBC Symphony Orchestra/Jules Buckley with Lianne La Havas, Barbican Hall © Mark Allan

Boy Blue, REDD, Tanaka Bingwa, Kenrick ‘H2O’ Sandy, Emma Houston © Carl Fox

Boy Blue, REDD, Tanaka Bingwa, Kenrick ‘H2O’ Sandy, Emma Houston © Carl Fox

Britten Sinfonia © Ben Ealovega

Britten Sinfonia © Ben Ealovega

Useful and Beautiful Craft Marquee by Create London at Walthamstow Garden Party 2019

Useful and Beautiful Craft Marquee by Create London at Walthamstow Garden Party 2019

Cheek by Jowl, The Knight of the Burning Pestle © Johan Persson

Cheek by Jowl, The Knight of the Burning Pestle © Johan Persson

Drum Works at Walthamstow Garden Party 2019 © Richard Hughes

Drum Works at Walthamstow Garden Party 2019 © Richard Hughes

Michael Clark in Because We Must, 1987 (part of Barbican Art Gallery’s Michael Clark: Cosmic Dancer exhibition) © Richard Haughton

Michael Clark in Because We Must, 1987 (part of Barbican Art Gallery’s Michael Clark: Cosmic Dancer exhibition) © Richard Haughton

Art Ensemble of Chicago, Barbican Hall, November 2019 © Mark Allan

Art Ensemble of Chicago, Barbican Hall, November 2019 © Mark Allan

People

Rehearsing for change

Rachel Smith, Senior Producer in the Beyond Barbican team, on nurturing community, connection and our collective imagination.

Walthamstow Garden Party 2019 © Gar Powell-Evans

Walthamstow Garden Party 2019 © Gar Powell-Evans

In July 2019, we celebrated the sixth edition of the annual Walthamstow Garden Party. I’m lucky to have been involved in the festival since its inception and remember clearly the rainy February afternoon when I first set foot in Lloyd Park, the festival’s home, for our first recce. Walking around the beautiful gardens and landscapes of the park with colleagues from the Barbican, Create, and Waltham Forest council we began to imagine what a festival might look like. A music stage here, a food market there – the world we hoped to create began to come alive in our imaginations. Just five months later, the first festival took place. I had no idea then of the journey we had begun nor the many festivals that were to follow.

From the outside, it might seem that not much has changed since that first festival. The weekend has always been hugely popular, consistently attracting over 30,000 people each year. However, beneath the surface there has been enormous change and learning, each year’s festival a rehearsal for the next, enabling us to embark on greater experimentation and to build deeper connections. Six years down the line, the festival is no longer simply programmed by the handful of people who walked around the park that rainy day back in 2014; it is now collectively imagined by more than 300 local organisations and 1,500 local people who work year-round with each other and our producer, Lara Deffense, to share, connect and nurture it into existence.

In October 2019, we began a fresh adventure with Leytonstone Loves Film, a new festival developed as part of Waltham Forest’s year as London Borough of Culture. With all the hindsight of our work on Walthamstow Garden Party, we began this process from a completely different place. Our producer, Wilna Fourie, brought together over twenty local film-makers and exhibitors at the very beginning of the process to imagine together what the festival would become. We invested less on creating the event itself, and more into creating space for the collective imagination of others. Leytonstone Loves Film did this spectacularly well, bringing together a diverse array of perspectives and creating a joyful celebration of the multiple stories and narratives that make up a community and a place. Over the course of the weekend, we screened 130 films and around 8,000 people from the local area and beyond joined the festival.

As a team, we have been enriched and transformed by others through our collaborations. We have learned that cooperating with others and working towards a common goal achieves more than would be possible on our own. As we look to the future, we are committed to creating safe and inclusive spaces for people to come together to stretch and strengthen our collective imaginations. We are rehearsing not just for our next project, but for new ways of being, learning and connecting. In a world that can feel fractured, this is more important now than ever.

Walthamstow Garden Party 2019 © Gar Powell-Evans

Walthamstow Garden Party 2019 © Gar Powell-Evans

Leytonstone Loves Film 2019 © Gar Powell-Evans

Leytonstone Loves Film 2019 © Gar Powell-Evans

Leytonstone Loves Film 2019 © Gar Powell-Evans

Leytonstone Loves Film 2019 © Gar Powell-Evans

Leytonstone Loves Film 2019 © Gar Powell-Evans

Leytonstone Loves Film 2019 © Gar Powell-Evans

Walthamstow Garden Party 2019 © Gar Powell-Evans

Walthamstow Garden Party 2019 © Gar Powell-Evans

Leytonstone Loves Film 2019 © Gar Powell-Evans

Leytonstone Loves Film 2019 © Gar Powell-Evans

Leytonstone Loves Film 2019 © Gar Powell-Evans

Leytonstone Loves Film 2019 © Gar Powell-Evans

Leytonstone Loves Film 2019 © Gar Powell-Evans

Leytonstone Loves Film 2019 © Gar Powell-Evans

Fostering arts-based learning across the UK

How we’re bringing our creative learning programmes to communities around the country.

Barbican Box at HOME, Manchester, July 2019 © Chris Payne

Barbican Box at HOME, Manchester, July 2019 © Chris Payne

As an international arts centre, the Barbican tours work around the globe. Closer to home, Barbican Guildhall Creative Learning has led the way in expanding our work nationally, increasing our reach and positively impacting lives with our arts and education programme. Our first three-year national development programme, supported by the Esmée Fairbairn Foundation, is enabling us to continue our existing relationship with HOME in Manchester, as well as develop two new partnerships this year with the Harlow Playhouse in Essex and PEACH West Norfolk (a Local Cultural Education Partnership) via Creative Arts East.

These partnerships support local culture through training, mentoring and development, working together to co-deliver our well-established Barbican Box programme for schools, as well as region-specific projects. By working collaboratively with our partners, we hope to build sustainable relationships and learning that can live beyond the partnership. We also hope to take away lessons for ourselves in order to strengthen our role as a cultural education provider within the national arts and education sector, while supporting the development of models of cultural education locally.

In order to continue this work, we hosted our first National Advisory Board in January this year, which was attended by representatives from each of our national partners. The group highlighted the importance of working with schools, the role of the professional artist in the classroom, and best practice around environmental sustainability – all of which are essential for building lasting cultural networks throughout the country.

Our national development programme is a key priority for us over the next five years and beyond, and the sustainability of the programmes we co-develop with our partners will be vital to how we approach our future work.

‘Working with the Barbican and Complicité has been amazing. For students from a small town in the North West … it has really helped to put their learning into a wider context and establish aspirations beyond their local area. The Continuing Professional Development (CPD) and support provided for teachers has been outstanding too, it has given me the inspiration to try out new methods and explore different ways of working’
Teacher in Manchester, Barbican Box

Inspiring the next generation of artists

Our Young Creatives and Youth Panel members on their highlights from the past year.

National Open Youth Orchestra rehearsal © Paul Blakemore

National Open Youth Orchestra rehearsal © Paul Blakemore

Through a range of talent development programmes, Barbican Guildhall Creative Learning provides opportunities for 14–25 year-olds to thrive in the creative industries.

This year, several young people developed their skills as artists, curators, producers and musicians across programmes such as our Young Poets, Young Programmers, Youth Panel, Young Visual Arts Group and National Open Youth Orchestra (NOYO), for which we are the London training centre.

We caught up with three Young Creatives to hear about their experiences and highlights from the past year.

Leo is a member of the National Open Youth Orchestra, a programme that supports talented young disabled and non-disabled musicians to develop their musical skills, rehearse and perform together, promoting diversity in the orchestral sector.

'NOYO has helped me realise that there are so many different ways to learn and experience through music. I have always wanted to have more opportunity to develop my music career, which is not easy for disabled people like me. This year, I loved having the opportunity to co-facilitate a NOYO workshop as part of the LSO’s Make Music Day, giving me the chance to learn how music events and workshops are developed. My highlight from the year was when we were given tickets to see the Hallé Orchestra conducted by Sir Mark Elder perform Beethoven's Symphony No 9 as part of the Barbican’s Beethoven Weekender in February. I really enjoyed the concert – the sound was fantastic and it was a great way to share music with the other NOYO members.'

Mehek Ali is a member of the Barbican’s Youth Panel, a group of young people aged 14–18 who work with departments across the Barbican to share their views on arts programming and the ethos of the organisation.

'I wanted to become part of the Barbican’s Youth Panel because it felt like a good chance to grow my confidence and have my ideas and opinions heard. It looked like a fun new opportunity, something good to add to my CV for the future, and also a chance to make new friends and socialise. The programme has helped me grow my confidence in expressing my opinions, and I have also developed the ability to see things from other people’s point of view. The thing I enjoyed most this year was the process of creating the Escape Room in the Conservatory with the rest of the panel and game-maker Sacha Coward. The tickets sold out!'

Annie Hayter is part of Young Poets, a programme that supports young creatives to develop their writing and performance skills, create a portfolio of work, and collaborate to produce a poetry anthology.

'Young Poets has changed my life completely. It is a loving and supportive environment that generates multiplicity and encourages an array of voices and ways of writing, thanks to the incredible leadership of poet and facilitator Jacob Sam-La Rose. Young Poets has spurred me on to consider my own interests and poetic choices, urging me to interrogate what I want to write about and why. Over the past year, the Barbican has kindly given me numerous opportunities, but I have to say that attending the Young Poets showcase as an audience member was a highlight; it was affecting to witness the work of my peers coming into fruition. I will be forever grateful for all of this and the sea change that the initiative has inspired in my way of being. '

We love hearing from you

The Barbican in the words of our audience

Walthamstow Garden Party © Gar Powell-Evans

Walthamstow Garden Party © Gar Powell-Evans

Place

Sustainability

Our Sustainability Manager Charlotte Lythgoe discusses the Barbican’s approach to reducing our environmental impact.

Barbican Conservatory © Max Colson

Barbican Conservatory © Max Colson

What’s the Barbican’s approach to sustainability?
We know our activities as an international arts centre have a significant impact on the environment and we’re committed to considerably reducing these. We still have a long way to go, but steps we’ve taken so far include switching to 100% renewable electricity, introducing low energy and LED alternatives in many areas of our building, and taking steps to removing the use of single-use plastics. Promoting environmental awareness among our staff, audiences, visiting companies and artists, encouraging everyone who uses the building to think sustainably, is also something we’re invested in.

What are some of the achievements from the past year?
Over the past year we’ve been making progress in implementing our Sustainability Policy. A couple of highlights include setting up a new organisation-wide sustainability group open to all staff members, to give everyone an opportunity to get involved in finding ways to reduce our environmental impact, as well as working closely with our catering partners to provide more vegetarian and vegan options and to source food as locally as possible. We also won Best Sustainability Initiative at the London Venue Awards and our free summer festival Walthamstow Garden Party, which we produce in partnership with the London Borough of Waltham Forest, was voted one of the most environmentally friendly festivals in the world by the Greener Festival Awards.

Could you tell us what some of the plans are for the coming year?
Addressing our environmental impact is a major organisational priority for us and we’re currently in the process of reviewing our strategy and targets to ensure we continue to reduce this impact to as low a level as possible.

In the meantime, a key focus this year is to expand our sustainability work and develop some new measures to advance the cultural sector’s environmental practice. For example, we’ve recently joined the highly regarded Accelerator Programme – run by Arts Council England and Julie’s Bicycle – to develop new and innovative ways to reduce the impact of festivals on the environment. We’ve also recently started collaborating on a pilot study with Julie’s Bicycle to develop a set of guidelines on what sustainable touring for exhibitions could look like.

Could you give us a quick insight into your typical working day at the Barbican?
No two days are the same. My daily activities at the Barbican could range from chairing a meeting of our Sustainability Steering Group, climbing through a plant room with an energy consultant, or checking on our wildlife by sitting on the Lakeside counting the ducks. It’s an incredibly varied and exciting role.


Culture Mile

The Barbican is one of the leading partners of Culture Mile, the City of London’s cultural district stretching from Farringdon to Moorgate. It’s an ambitious, long-term initiative led by the City of London Corporation with partners, Guildhall School of Music & Drama, London Symphony Orchestra and Museum of London. Culture Mile aims to transform the area with lively outdoor events, support its thriving local economy, improve the links between cultural venues and the wider public, and take advantage of every opportunity to develop life skills through creative participation.

Smithfield Street Party, August 2019 © Mark Allan

Smithfield Street Party, August 2019 © Mark Allan

Last year, Culture Mile launched its first ever summer season of events, 100 Days of Play, which explored the value of play and creativity in everyday life, featuring an interactive sound garden, lunchtime programmes of yoga, music and mindfulness for City workers, and London’s biggest play street.

In November, Culture Mile Nights explored the night-time economy of Smithfield with a series of after-dark events, including candlelit tours of St Bartholomew the Great, events at iconic nightclub, Fabric, an immersive spoken word event and a Smithfield pub quiz.

In 2019, Culture Mile and Foundation for FutureLondon at East Bank partnered on the Fusion Prize, a competition with a £50,000 prize fund. We invited schools, universities, charities and businesses to work together and pitch innovative ideas that develop the creative, communication, organisational and thinking skills of London’s young people through cultural experiences. Six finalists were selected and the winner is due to be announced later in 2020.


The Barbican Archive

Bringing our history back to life.

As we approach our 40th anniversary in 2022, a team of researchers at the Barbican has spent the past few years delving into our archives to discover our origins and chart our remarkable journey across the decades.

On completion, this exciting project will become a key collection of architecture, design and the performing arts. We aim for the Barbican Archive to tell the stories of how the Barbican and Guildhall School of Music & Drama buildings came to be, how they work, and how artists and audiences have defined them.

Barbican Archive Jukebox © Matthew Kaltenborn

Barbican Archive Jukebox © Matthew Kaltenborn

Over the past two years, and thanks to help from the National Lottery Heritage Fund, discoveries from the archives project have already begun to emerge. The Barbican Archive Residency took place across Level G in October 2019, with a weekend of free talks, workshops, films and pop-up installations showcasing found material. This included the Barbican Archive Jukebox, which toured a series of sites across the Centre throughout October. The jukebox featured an interactive display with contributions from the first employees and residents of the Barbican that brought our 1982 opening back to life.

Work is continuing to further build our archive in advance of our anniversary, so that this landmark can be celebrated with a new oral history of the Barbican and our surrounding area, and a digital archive available for all on our website.


Crafting a retail offer

Exclusive gifts and events in the Barbican Shop

In our spacious two-floor shop by our Silk Street entrance, a second shop in Barbican Art Gallery and an online store, we showcase the designers of today and tomorrow, creating bespoke products and exclusive new ranges. Our shop also provides room for events, where in spring 2019 we explored the influence of Brutalist architecture on contemporary craft and design through a series of workshops.

Barbican Shop, December 2019 © Planarama

Barbican Shop, December 2019 © Planarama

Over the past year, a lot of our retail offer and fashion pieces were influenced by exhibitions in our Art Gallery. For Lee Krasner: Living Colour, we launched a collection of accessories incorporating Lee Krasner’s artwork, including a silk scarf, umbrella and tote bag. And for our autumn exhibition, Into the Night, design label, Wolf & Moon, created a stylish range of jewellery inspired by the elegant aesthetic of the Belle Époque era of Paris, as depicted in the show. The Brutalist-inspired workshops and the exclusive exhibition ranges were typical of Barbican Shop’s aim to offer unique gifts and experiences for our visitors that capture the spirit of the building.


Barbican for hire

Jackie Boughton, our Head of Business Events, on a record-breaking year of hosting events.

The Barbican provides a striking backdrop for a range of commercial hires that take place across the building, including conferences, product launches and weddings. Led by our Business Events department, the success of these hires directly supports our arts and learning programmes.

Before we had to temporarily close the Centre in March, the Business Events team had already achieved its most successful financial year ever, with almost £3 million secured in business events for 2019–20. Repeat bookings were also up 2% from the previous year, with successful ongoing relationships including the Institute of Fundraising, Mind the Product and the NHS.

Our efforts and achievements were recognised with several awards during the year, including the COOLest Venue for Award Ceremonies & AGMs at Prestige Event’s COOL Venue Awards, and Best Sustainability Initiative at the London Venue Awards, acknowledging our continued commitment to reducing our environmental impact.

Some of the biggest event highlights of the year included the inaugural Life Lessons weekend presented by The Sunday Times, an in-conversation evening with Emma Thompson presented by Guardian Live, and a collaboration with WIRED and Barbican International Enterprises to produce a joint conference during the AI: More Than Human exhibition.

The Sunday Times presents Life Lessons in the Barbican Theatre, February 2020 © Johnny Stephens & Life Lessons

The Sunday Times presents Life Lessons in the Barbican Theatre, February 2020 © Johnny Stephens & Life Lessons

The Barbican also continued to be a popular location for film, TV and fashion shoots. Notable among the events from the past year are fashion shoots for Vivienne Westwood, Burberry and Primark; video shoots for a number of music videos including Cher Lloyd; and filming for a Netflix production.

The financial successes and award accolades over the past year are all testament to a continuous strive to host unforgettable business events, and we look forward to welcoming our commercial clients back into the Centre.

Finance

These results represent the outcome of the 19/20 financial year, which Covid-19 interrupted just two weeks before its close.

Principal funding sources City of London funding for 2019/20 is £17.4m. This represents 39% of total income down from 41% in 2018/19. Box Office income for 2019/20 is £7.8m, up from 2018/19 due to the additional summer exhibition - AI: More than Human. Trading & Other income for 2019/20 is £17.5m, up from £15.4m in 2018/19. This fluctuates due to audience-driven income. By building our touring and partnership income over the last few years this has added some stability to this income line and increased it. We also were successful in claiming orchestral and galleries tax relief. Donations and other grants represented 5% of income in line with previous years.

Attendance The attendance figures shown here include all ticketed events, visitors at The Curve gallery and estimated attendance at Commercial events. The Centre has other non-ticketed activity in foyer spaces, offsite (e.g. Sound Unbound and Walthamstow Garden Party) and international touring which are not included in the attendance figures shown here.

Who's Who 2019/20

Management

[B]Chairman; Tom Sleigh (from May 2020, previously Deputy Chairman); [S]; [B]Deputy Chairman; Dr Giles Shilson (from May 2020, previously Chairman); [S]; [B]Board Members; Stephen Bediako; Russ Carr; Simon Duckworth OBE; David Graves; Gerard Grech; Tom Hoffman; Wendy Hyde; Emma Kane; Vivienne Littlechild; Wendy Mead OBE; Lucy Musgrave; Graham Packham; Judith Pleasance; William Russell (from May 2019); Jenny Waldman; [S]; [B]Barbican Centre Trust; Chair: Emma Kane; [S]; [B]Trustees; Richard Bernstein; Dr Geraldine Brodie (until May 2020); Tony Chambers (from July 2019); Sir Roger Gifford; Sir Nicholas Kenyon; Kendall Langford; Professor Dame Henrietta L Moore FBA, DBE; John Murray; Alasdair Nisbet; John Porter; Dr Giles Shilson (until May 2020); Tom Sleigh (from May 2020); [S]; [B]Directors; [S]; Managing Director: Sir Nicholas Kenyon; Chief Operating and Financial Officer: Sandeep Dwesar; [S]; Artistic Director: Louise Jeffreys (until March 2020); Interim Artistic Director: Leonora Thomson (from April 2020); Director of Development: Natasha Harris; Director of Innovation and Engagement: Sean Gregory; [S]; Director of Creative Learning: Jenny Mollica (until May 2020); Director of Operations and Buildings: Jonathon Poyner; [S]; [S]; [S]; [S]; [S]; [S]; [B]Senior Management Team; [S]; Head of Audience Experience, Operations and Sales: David Duncan; Head of Business Events: Jackie Boughton; Head of Systems and Data: Andrew Hayes; Head of Cinema: Gali Gold; Head of Commercial Development: Adrian Morgan; Head of Communications: Lorna Gemmell (Maternity); Acting Head of Communications: Nick Adams; Head of Event Management: Lee Dobson; Head of Finance: Niki Cornwell; Head of HR: Steve Eddy; Head of IT: Dominic Smith; Head of Marketing: Phil Newby; Head of Music: Huw Humphreys; Head of Retail: Jo Davis; Head of Theatre and Dance: Toni Racklin; Head of Visual Arts: Jane Alison; Property Facilities Manager: Cornell Farrell; Senior Manager: Laura Whitticase; Senior Producer: Siddharth Khajuria ; Group Accountant: Sarah Wall

Partners

[B]Creative Alliance Partner:; Guildhall School of Music & Drama; [S]; [B]Resident Orchestra:; London Symphony Orchestra; [S]; [B]Artist-in-Association:; Sir Simon Rattle OM CBE; [S]; [B]Associate Orchestra:; BBC Symphony Orchestra; [S]; [B]Associate Ensembles:; Academy of Ancient Music; Britten Sinfonia; [S]; [B]International Orchestral Partner:; Los Angeles Philharmonic; [S]; [S]; [B]International Associate Ensemble:; Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis; [S]; [B]International Associate Ensemble at Milton Court: ; Australian Chamber Orchestra; [S]; [B]Associate Producer:; Serious; [S]; [B]Associate Company:; Create London; [S]; [B]Artistic Associates:; Boy Blue; Cheek by Jowl; Drum Works; Michael Clark Company; Deborah Warner CBE ; [S]; [B]Associate Schools:; City of London Primary Academy, Islington ; New Regent’s College, Hackney; Sydney Russell School, Barking and Dagenham ; Whitefield Academy Trust, Waltham Forest; [S]; [B]Regional Partners:; HOME, Manchester; Harlow Playhouse; West Norfolk LCEP via Creative Arts East; [S]; [B]Community Collaborator:; Headway East London

Cultural and Education Partners

A Greener Festival; A New Direction; Abandon Normal Devices; Academy of Ancient Music; Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences; Accademia Bizantina; AI Summit; Alex Karotsch; Amnesty International; AnnaPurna Pictures; Araba Quashie; Arancini Brothers; Architecture Foundation; Arts Council England; Artsbridge; Audible; Auditorium-Orchestre National de Lyon; Australian Chamber Orchestra; BAFTA; Ballet Black; Bar Serve; Barbican Library; BBC Radio 3; BBC Symphony Orchestra; Beatroots Creative; Belvedere Museum, Vienna; BFI; Big Creative Education; Bird on the Wire; Bird’s Eye View; Blackhorse Arts; Bletchley Park; Bloomberg; Bodleian Libraries Oxford; Boiler Room; Bombay Street Food; Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra; Boy Blue; British Council; British Library; British Museum; Britten Sinfonia; Brookfield; Budapest Festival Orchestra; Buro Happold; Cakes & Ladders; Camp Halloumi; Cane & Ginger; Carducci Quartet; Centre for Young Musicians London; Chapel End School; Charlotte Alcala Saluard; Charterhouse; Cheek by Jowl; Chester Beatty Library; Chicken Shed; Chocolate Films; Choeur Accentus; Christian Berst Gallery; Church of Sound; Churros Garcia; City Guides; City Music Foundation; City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra; City of London Culture Team; Claire Gaydon; Comédie-Française; Communion; Como No; Complicité; Computer History Museum Tokyo; Contemporary Jewish Museum, San Francisco, USA; Create London; Culture Ireland; Cyprus Kitchen; Dance Umbrella; Darbar; DAZED; Deafinitely Theatre; DeepMind; Deutsches Filminstitut & Filmmuseum, Frankfurt, Germany; Diverse City; Doc’n Roll Festival; Dominee's Doughnuts; Doric String Quartet; Double's Kitchen; Dread Broadcasting Corporation; Drum Works; E17 Films; East London Comic Arts Festival; East of Eden; Eat Your Own Ears; Ecstatic Music Festival; EFG London Jazz Festival; El Vaquero; Elbphilharmonie; EMS Collective; Enjoy Jazz Mannheim; Enjoy Waltham Forest; European Concert Halls Organisation; Evangelos Trichias; Fabric; Fairtrade; Faso Danse Théâtre; Feel Good: Tennis; Feet on the Street; Feminist Duration Reading Group; Fertility Fest; Fish in a Bottle; Fisher Center at Bard; Fleur Elise Noble; Forbo Flooring Systems; Forest Film Club; Forest Recycling Project; Forum Groningen, Groningen, Netherlands; Framestore; Frans Brood Productions; Freiburg Baroque Orchestra; Freud Museum; Friends of Lloyd Park; Fringe! Queer Arts and Film Festival; Fruit n Ice; Fundación Canal, Madrid, Spain; Galway International Arts Festival; Garage Museum of Contemporary Art, Moscow; Gather17; Get Into Theatre; Global Generation; Golden Lane Community Centre; Google Arts and Culture; Greenleaf Primary School; Groundworks; Guildhall Jazz; Guildhall Projection Mapping; Guildhall School of Music and Drama; Hajnalka's Cakes; Hallé; Hallé Choir; Harryhausen Foundation; Harvard University; HAVEN Coffee; Hedge Herbs; Hetco; Hitchcock Society; Honey Heaven; Hornbeam; Hornbeam Cycle Group; HR Giger Museum; Human Rights Watch; Humanitarian Leadership Academy; IBM Corporation; IDA Projects; idontloveyouanymore; Ikegami Lab, University of Tokyo; Il Pomo d'Oro; In Bed with My Brother; Independent Cinema Office; Institut français du Royaume-Uni; Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston, USA; Insula Orchestra; Into Film Festival; ITV Archive; Jam n' Jerk; Jamie Hale; Japanese Experimental & Avant-Garde Film Festival; Jazz Re:freshed; Jewish Museum Berlin; Jewish Museum Prague; Jim Henson Foundation and Cheryl Henson; Jinsong Oriental Art Center, Chengdu, China; Jonathan Ruffer Curatorial Research Grant from the Art Fund; Jules Verne Museum; Kasmin Gallery; Kate Macgarry; Keep Cup; Kieran Akhtar; Kinoteka Polish Film Festival; Kiss & Cry Collective; Kokugakuin University Museum; Kolkati Street Food; KUASAYOGA; Kunsthal Rotterdam, Rotterdam, Netherlands; Kyoto University; La Gelatiera; LA Philharmonic; LA Philharmonic Youth Orchestra Los Angeles; La Porca BBQ; Larder; Last Frame Film Club; Le Delice; Learning Begins in Wonder; Legends of the Forest; Les Arts Florissants; Leyton College Students; Leyton Orient Trust; Leytonstone Library; Life Science Centre, Newcastle, UK; Little Baobab; Lloyd Park Skate Park Users Group; London & Partners; London Borough of Culture Waltham Forest; London College of Fashion; London Contemporary Orchestra; London Indian Film Festival; London International Animation Festival; London International Mime Festival; London Symphony Chorus; London Symphony Orchestra; Lord of the Wings; Los Angeles Master Chorale; Los Angeles Philharmonic; Louise Orwin; Lucas Film; Luis Correia; Lumen Art Projects; Lynette Wallworth; Made by Play; Made in Hackney; Magnum; Manana//Cuba; Manchester University; MANDEM; Mark Kavuma; Markhouse Day Centre; Marli's Kitchen; Marshall Arts; Marsm; Maureen Paley, London; Meet Your Picks; Merce Cunningham Trust; Mexican Fried Chicken; Middlesex University; Miraikan Museum, Tokyo; MIT Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Lab; MIT Media Lab; MIT Media Lab Open Agriculture Initiative; MIT Museum; Moscow Design Museum; Moscow Pushkin Drama Theatre; Mount Street, Mayfair; Moyo London; M-SET; Museum of London; Museum of Science, Tokyo University; Museums of Liverpool; Music in Offices; Musicity; MVP Workshops; National Gallery; National Institute for Design (India); National Maritime Museum; National Open Youth Orchestra; National Youth Orchestra; Natural Voices; Nexus Studios; Neysela da Silva Reed; Nouveau Riché; NTS; Nuffield Health; Okra Studio; Open City; Open Up Music; Orchestra dell'Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia; OrganicLea; Oxford Samuel Beckett Theatre Trust Award; Paella & Tapas; Palestine Film Festival; Paramount Pictures; Pasta e Basta; Peeping Tom; PEOPLE Festival; Perky Blenders; Perrotin Gallery, Paris; Philharmonie de Paris; Piano Smithfield; Piccolo Teatro di Milano; Picks Farm; Play the Mile; Poet in the City; Pop Up Film Club; Popdogs Hot Dogs; PRiSM; Quicksand Design Studio; Rachel Mars; Rachel Williams; Real Food Festival; Regents Park Open Air Theatre; Resonance FM; Rockfeedback; Romilly Walton Masters Award; Roundhouse Choir; Royal College of Art; Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra; Royal Northern College of Music; Royal Northern Sinfonia; Royal Shakespeare Company; Royal Society; Royal Society of Blind Children; Ruby Stevenson; Sadie Coles HQ; Saira Kahn; Sanguceria; Schirn Kunsthalle, Frankfurt; Science Fiction Foundation Liverpool; SDNA; Serious; Shake The High Road; Sham's Kitchen; Shazad Khalid; Sheffield Doc/Fest; Shinto Museum Japan; Short Circuit; Shubbak; Silver Press; Singapore Toy Museum; Siobhan Davies Dance; Smoke & Bones; Smoking Dog Films; Smokoloco; SOAS University; Social Club; Sodo Pizza Café; Sony Computer Science Laboratories; Sony Corporation; Sotheby’s; Soundhouse; Sour Lemons; St Bart’s the Great; St Bart’s the Less ; St Giles’ Cripplegate; St John's Church; St John's Music Hall; St. Francis College; Stanley Kubrick Archive; Stargaze; STBY; Stories & Supper; Stow Brothers; Stow Film Lounge; Stratford Festival; Street Food Union; Suntrap Centre; Superfan; Suzie's Cakes; Sydney Theatre Company; Tafelmusik Baroque Ensemble; Tandem Research; The Architectural Foundation; The Bagri Foundation; The Birds; The Clarion Choir; The Conde Nast Publications Ltd; The Czech Centre; The English Concert; The Greek Café; The Liminal Space; The London Mathematical Laboratory; The Mediated Matter Group; The Mill; The New East; The Orwell Foundation; The PappyShow; The Red Lion; The Sixteen; The Smalls; The Waltham Forest Reiki Project; The Wasan Institute; The Wiener Library; Theatre of Nations; Thomas Kondiments; Thorus Arts; Tiff Bell Lightbox; Total Refreshment Centre; Turning Earth; Underwire Film Festival; Unholy Bagel; University College London; University of Applied Arts, Vienna; University of Hertfordshire; University of Washington; Urban Flames; Varjack-Lowry; Vibes FM; Vital Arts; Viviana Durante Company; Vulcan Collection, Seattle, USA; Wake Forest Institute of Regenerative Medicine; Waltham Forest Extinction Rebellion; Waltham Forest Flames; Waltham Forest Greenpeace; Waltham Forest Music Education Hub; Waltham Forest Muslim Culture Forum; Waltham Forest Parent Forum; Warner Bros.; Wayward; Wayward Productions; We Are Parable; Wellcome Trust; Whalebone Films; Why Not Theatre; Wild Card Brewery; William Morris Big Local; William Morris Gallery; Wired; Women Over 50 Film Festival; Woodford & Warner; Wyss Institute; Yardley Primary School; Your Juice Spot; Zentrum Paul Klee, Bern; Zetter Townhouse, London; Zürcher Sing-Akademie

With thanks to

The Barbican is very grateful to all our supporters listed here and the many thousands who have made a donation when purchasing tickets or who have contributed to the Barbican Centre Trust.

[B]Centre Partner; Christie Digital; [S]; [B]Major Supporters; Arts Council England; City Bridge Trust; Esmée Fairbairn Foundation; SHM Foundation; Sir Siegmund Warburg’s Voluntary Settlement; The National Lottery Heritage Fund; The Terra Foundation for American Art; UBS; Wellcome; [S]; [B]Trusts, Foundations and Public Founders; Art Fund; Australian High Commission in London; Austrian Cultural Forum London; Boshier-Hinton Foundation; British Council; Cockayne Grants for the Arts, a donor advised fund of the London Community Foundation; John S Cohen Foundation; Creative Europe Programme for the European Union; Creative Scotland; Edge Foundation; Embassy of the Federal Republic of Germany; Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands; Embassy of Mexico to the United Kingdom & AMEXID; Europa Cinemas; Film London; Goethe-Institut London; Japan Foundation; London Borough of Barking and Dagenham; Noël Coward Foundation; Polish Cultural Institute; PRS Foundation; The 29th May 1961 Charity; The Austin & Hope Pilkington Trust; The Boris Karloff Charitable Trust; The Great Britain Sasakawa Foundation; The Miss Joan Sinclair Charitable Trust; The Pollock-Krasner Foundation; The Swiss Arts Council Pro Helvetia; TS Eliot Foundation; [S]; [B]Lee Krasner Exhibition Circle; Kenneth C Griffin Charitable Fund; Kasmin Gallery; Elizabeth and J Jeffry Louis; Midge and Simon Palley; Ruddock Foundation for the Arts; [S]; [B]Barbican Patrons; [S]; [B]Leading Patrons; Crystal Amber Fund; SHM Foundation; Marcus Margulies; [S]; [B]Director’s Circle; Emma Kane; Ruth and Stuart Lipton; The Porter Foundation; [S]; [B]Principal Patrons; Anonymous (1); Mr and Mrs Baha Bassatne; Martin and Celestina Hughes; Natrium Capital Limited; John Murray; Ian Rosenblatt; Beatrice and Christian Schlumberger; [S]; [B]Premier Patrons; Russ and Linda Carr; Tim and Catherine Cox; Stuart and Laura Fraser; Horacia Queiro; Brian Smith; Lady Juliet and Dr Christopher Tadgell; [S]; [B]Patrons; Anonymous (5); Stephen and Alyson Barter; Peter Bazalgette and Hilary Newiss; Sam and Rosie Berwick; Nicholas Berwin; Lynn Biggs; Dr Geraldine Brodie; Gwen and Stanley Burnton; Tony Chambers; Tim and Caroline Clark; Dr Gianetta Corley; Erica Cosburn; Ian S Ferguson; Roger and Clare Gifford; Barbara and Michael Gwinnell; Julian Hale and Helen Likierman; Richard and Jenny Hardie; Malcolm Herring; Hollick Family Charitable Trust; Lynette Brooks Homer; Richard Hopkin; Sajid Hussein; Wendy Hyde; David and Denise Joseph; Sir Nicholas Kenyon; John and Angela Kessler; Colin Kirkpatrick; Kendall Langford; Neil and Tracy Lawson-May; Sir Laurie and Lady Magnus; Robert McHenry and Sally Lloyd-Bostock; Wendy Mead; Millichope Foundation; Sir Paul Morgan; Professor Dame Linda Partridge and Mr Michael Morgan; Ben and Christina Perry; Helen Veale and Trevor Phillips; Keith Salway; Giles Shilson; Mary Tapissier and family; Peter Tolhurst; John and Paula Tomlinson; Steven Tredget; Mel Tsiaprazis;

The Barbican Centre Trust Ltd is a registered charity in England and Wales (no. 294282)

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