Greater than 200 arts professionals, together with the artists Jasleen Kaur, Isaac Julien and John Akomfrah, have signed an open letter addressed to the Barbican Centre in London expressing their “profound disappointment and alarm” relating to the current departure of Devyani Saltzman, the establishment’s director for arts and participation. Graham Sheffield, the previous creative director of the Barbican, has additionally signed the letter.
In a current assertion, Saltzman mentioned that the transfer is “attributable to an organisational restructure” and that her position is not going to get replaced. Saltzman, who was appointed in 2024, was reportedly made redundant and is because of go away in Might. In January a brand new chief government, Abigail Pogson, began on the central London arts venue, which pulls round 1.5 million folks yearly.
The letter says: “The Barbican has acknowledged that it’ll not touch upon ‘particular person staffing issues’. Nevertheless, this isn’t an bizarre HR [human resources] concern. This can be a main public cultural establishment, funded and held in belief for the folks of this metropolis and nation.” The Barbican initially advised The Artwork Newspaper that it was “unable to touch upon particular person staffing issues”, earlier than later releasing a press release during which it mentioned that Devyani was departing “following a part of creative and organisational transition” and that her position wouldn’t get replaced because the venue prepares to shut forward of a serious renovation.
“A choice affecting its most senior creative position, and one of many only a few leaders of South Asian and racially various heritage in its historical past, has sector‑vast and group‑vast implications,” the letter says. “To characterise such a call as an inside matter solely is insufficient and dismissive.”
The letter calls on the Barbican to implement sure measures together with offering “a full, public rationalization of the rationale and course of that led to the curtailment of Devyani Saltzman’s position, together with the standing of the put up she held”. The signatories additionally need Barbican administration to “publish up‑to‑date information on the range of the Barbican’s senior management and governance and set out how this choice impacts progress in the direction of your individual acknowledged equality and anti‑racism targets.”
In 2021, Nicholas Kenyon resigned as managing director after 14 years after employees advised the Guardian that the Barbican was “institutionally racist”.
The Barbican’s “anti-racism motion plan” was finalised in 2024. “Preliminary priorities for the plan embody beginning [a] procurement course of to implement anti-racism coaching for employees; establishing a zero tolerance reporting system to report and monitor incidents of racism, and [formalising] a International Majority sponsorship programme,” says a web based assertion.
The letter to the Barbican, which was made public earlier this week, ends: “We urge you to answer this letter with honesty, transparency and a concrete plan of motion. With out this, our confidence within the Barbican as a accomplice, employer and civic area is profoundly shaken, and we must rethink how we and our communities interact with the establishment sooner or later.” Different signatories embody the novelist Salman Rushdie, the unbiased curator Ekow Eshun and Dorothy Value, the deputy director of the Courtauld Institute in London.
The Barbican referred The Artwork Newspaper to its press assertion when contacted for remark.
