As of press time, some 250 cultural figures from all over the world have signed an open letter in help of Devyani Saltzman, the previous director of London’s Barbican Centre. Saltzman left abruptly earlier this week, just some weeks after Abigail Pogson was appointed chief government.
Notable signatories embody artists John Akomfrah and Isaac Julien, filmmaker Mira Nair, curators Mark Sealy and Zoé Whitley, writers Salman Rushdie and Kiran Desai, and
Saltzman was named director of arts and participation in February 2024, and was tasked with reimagining the way forward for the establishment. Her mandate, in keeping with a publish on LinkedIn, was to construct a “future-facing programme that displays the complexity and chance of our time throughout theatre, music, visible arts, cinema, artistic collaboration and immersive.” She will likely be departing the Barbican in Could of this 12 months.
The open letter is addressed to the chair of the Barbican board (William Russell) and members of the Metropolis of London Company, and expresses “profound disappointment and alarm” on the choice to alleviate Saltzman of her function.
“Solely months in the past,” the letter states, “she publicly set out a 5‑12 months artistic imaginative and prescient for the centre. Her departure, after a relatively quick time in publish and coinciding with the arrival of a brand new Chief Govt, raises critical questions concerning the establishment’s dedication to sustaining world majority management on the highest ranges.”
Amongst different factors, the letter asks for the Barbican to make clear whether or not Saltzman’s function has been eradicated or restructured; for an evidence as to the board’s involvement within the choice; and for details about how creative management will now be configured.
