Barbican Annual Lord Mayor’s Breakfast
21st May 2019Each year the Lord Mayor hosts a breakfast that promotes the work of the Barbican Centre. It is a 'state of the nation' address that reflects on the activities in the prior year, details the plans for the foreseeable future and the longer term aims. Prominent successes in 2018 have included the exhibition Basquiat: Boom for Real which broke the audience record for the Centre, boosting first-time visitors and growing the Young Barbican scheme by more than half on the previous year. The Young Barbican scheme now has over 60,000 members aged 14-25.
There has also been The Art of Change season delivering a cross-arts programme of projects and events that explored how artists respond to, reflect and potentially effect change in the social and political landscape. These initiatives have attracted greater levels of support from major donors to the Centre and, as visitor numbers have been boosted, the Centre has also benefitted from strong growth in smaller donations arising from ticket sales.
The message from the Centre is that it enjoys rude, good health. It is relevant to society and the leadership are producing programmes and initiatives that serve not just current consumers of the arts but that inspire new generations.