Devyani Saltzman, the director of arts and participation on the Barbican centre in London, is leaving her publish after solely 18 months within the function. In response toThe Stage, Saltzman was made redundant. A Barbican spokesperson mentioned that it’s “unable to touch upon particular person staffing issues”.
Saltzman not too long ago introduced a five-year inventive imaginative and prescient for the venue, saying final June: “At a time of deep worldwide geopolitical and technological change, our ideas-led, seasonal strategy permits us tangibly to answer the world at the moment, via a programme that enables audiences to see the world holistically, in an entirely new gentle: interconnected, and all the time evolving.” Final month a brand new chief government, Abigail Pogson, began on the central London arts venue, which attracts round 1.5 million individuals yearly.
Saltzman, appointed in 2024, was beforehand the director of public programming on the Artwork Gallery of Ontario. “Key to her imaginative and prescient for the following chapter of the Barbican is the potential to create a brand new kind of ethos in public establishments that’s actually in service to their individuals and public, along with presenting one of the best of cutting-edge programming,” mentioned a press assertion on her appointment. Saltzman was approached for remark.
Saltzman’s departure caps a turbulent time for the Barbican. In 2021, the Barbican Centre carried out an intensive employees reorganisation following the publication of a e-book that included greater than 100 alleged situations of prejudicial behaviour at its venue.
Will Gompertz was appointed director of arts and studying on the Barbican in March 2021, later changing into creative director. In late 2023, he left the museum after being appointed the director of Sir John Soane’s Museum in London. Gompertz was on the forefront of implementing the organisation’s anti-racism plan.
In 2023, in the meantime, a show on the Curve Gallery on the centre was taken down after Resolve Collective accused Barbican employees of censoring a chat.
In response to the Guardian, Saltzman had been seen “as a determine who helped restore belief between the organisation and sections of the creative group”.
