Over 170 cultural figures have signed an open letter to the Barbican expressing concern and demanding transparency over the recent announcement of the departure of its director for arts and participation, Devyani Saltzman.
Signatories include artists Jasleen Kaur, John Akomfrah and Isaac Julien and writers Salman Rushdie, Pankaj Mishra and Kiran Desai.
The letter states that the departure of Saltzman, who is a South Asian woman, ‘after a comparatively short time in post and coinciding with the arrival of a new Chief Executive, raises serious questions about the institution’s commitment to sustaining global majority leadership at the highest levels.’
It calls on the Barbican Board and the City of London Corporation to clarify the reasons behind Saltzman’s departure and to commit to their programme of anti-racist change, including by publishing up-to-date data on the diversity of the Barbican’s senior leadership and commissioning an independent review into how decisions about senior appointments and exits are being made.
