Devyani Saltzman appointed Barbican's Director for Arts and Participation

Devyani Saltzman will become the Barbican's Director for Arts and Participation in July. Her responsibilities include overseeing the institution's cinema, creative collaboration, music, theatre, dance, and visual arts programming. She will also lead the 'Destination City' initiative, a City of London Corporation project designed to transform the Square Mile into a leisure hub. Saltzman previously served as Director of Public Programming at the Art Gallery of Ontario. Her career also includes roles as Director of Literary Arts at the Banff Centre and as a founding Curator at Toronto's Luminato festival. She has contributed writing to publications such as The Globe and Mail, The National Post, the Atlantic, and Tehelka. In a statement, Saltzman expressed her vision for creating a daring, politically relevant space that is both international and deeply local, emphasizing trust-based work and serving communities authentically. She highlighted this moment as an opportunity for cultural institutions to adopt healthier ways of working.