Racism row at the Barbican - how did it start and what happens next?

This longstanding powerhouse of the London arts scene should be preparing to celebrate its 40th anniversary next year but instead has found itself mired in a remarkable row about racism
PA
Robert Dex @RobDexES15 November 2021

The agenda for Wednesday’s meeting of the Barbican Centre Board makes for shocking reading - the only problem is no-one can agree what is the most shocking part.

Is it the allegations of bullying and racism described by staff who say the arts centre, famously built on a bomb site, is run by a small coterie of posh, white men who understand nothing of the reality of their lives?

Or is it, as some others would have it, that the City of London has published a long list of allegations based on unproven complaints from a small number of anonymous staff that risk dragging the Barbican’s name through the mud?

The saga began in the summer when an anonymous group of former and current staff, using the name Barbican Stories, collected together a catalogue of alleged incidents they said proved the venue was institutionally racist. That the organisation’s then-director, Sir Nicholas Kenyon, would be stepping down within months was announced less than a fortnight later.

An interim director of equity, diversity and inclusion was swiftly appointed and the city of London, which owns the Barbican, asked law firm Lewis Silkin to “oversee an external review into staff experiences of racism”.

That review paints a picture of an organisation with a huge gulf between its many low-paid staff, often people of colour working on casual contracts, and it’s “defensive” white, middle class leadership. The allegations range from complaints that the make-up of staff and range of productions do not “reflect the diversity of the City of London” to assumptions “made by Barbican staff members about artists of colour, for instance that all black artists smoke weed”.

Lawyers heard allegations of “belittling of women of colour’s achievements” and “stereotypical assumptions about race” being made by staff.

Another complaint was staff members being “referred to as a ‘diversity hire’ which suggested “people of colour would not be working at the Barbican based on merit alone”.

But it is not just the allegations that disturb some people, others have raised concerns about the way the inquiry itself was run.

The Barbican has around 350 staff. 48 individuals, not all of whom still work in the organisation, contacted Lewis Silkin to give evidence.

Of those 48, 13 either decided not to participate or gave evidence only to withdraw it later. The lawyers admit “very few people of colour” took part, suggesting the final number was around eight, and that more than half of those giving evidence were senior staff.

Daniel Lynch

The group that started it all - Barbican Stories - handed over a copy of their catalogue of the incidents and told lawyers it “could name the perpetrators and those responsible for the racism” but has not yet done so, though it is preparing a second edition of the book that started it all.

One former senior staff member said they did not think the law firm’s review could be “said to be at all representative” of the workforce and criticised it for “just uncritically reporting what they were told by a few individuals”.

But others who believe the allegations say the low numbers of staff taking part are proof of the very problem - that worries about job security and a lack of trust in how the information will be used is stopping people from coming forward.

Will Gompertz
bbc

The City clearly thinks it has a problem and has described the inquiry as part of a “long journey of cultural change at the Barbican”.

It has announced it will bring in compulsory training on issues including anti racism, unconscious bias and inclusion with senior staff among the first to be signed up to it, and the centre’s director of Arts and Learning, former Tate and BBC man Will Gompertz, has been hastily elevated to “joint interim managing director”, alongside the administrator Sandeep Dwesar.

A spokesperson for the City of London Corporation said Lewis Silkin had carried out “a thorough external investigation” and said further investigation was being carried out “with disciplinary action taken where appropriate”.

Whatever happens next it is shaping up to be a very unhappy birthday next year.

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