The Barbican Centre, the largest performing arts centre in Europe, has announced the appointment of Claire Spencer AM as its inaugural CEO.
Spencer will finish up in her current role as CEO of Arts Centre Melbourne on 14 April before starting her new role in London in May.
‘There’s nowhere on Earth quite like the Barbican, I think, and that was very attractive to me,’ Spencer said of her appointment.
‘These big art centres all have their own nuances and personalities and the Barbican, certainly, is no different. Some of my earliest memories of theatre were actually at the Barbican and the opportunity to go back and be involved in that is quite extraordinary.’
THE NEW ROLE
Owned, funded, and managed by the City of London Corporation, the Barbican is a unique arts centre based in the midst of a housing estate. An iconic brutalist building that first opened its doors in 1982, the Barbican Centre is home to two art galleries, two theatres, three cinemas, a concert hall, a library, and a tropical conservatory.
‘The Barbican is a world class arts and learning organisation … with a quite extraordinary arts program and a very strong connection to community, as well as extraordinary creative learning activity,’ Spencer explained.
‘Typically in a given year – not a COVID year obviously – you would expect to see thousands of artists and performers coming in through stage door and the site itself attended by well over a million people. It’s a really important part of the fabric of that part of London.’
Last year the Barbican was at the centre of a racism storm, as documented in the book Barbican Stories. Barbican management subsequently pledged to introduce diversity targets and publicly stated their commitment to equity, diversity and inclusion.
Spencer will be the Barbican’s first ever CEO and joins the organisation following the departure of long-serving Managing Director Sir Nicholas Kenyon in September 2021.
‘My plan is to work closely with the team and the board to deliver on the full agenda that the Barbican has ahead of it, which covers both an artistic vision as well as a physical renewal, and a very big agenda around equity and inclusion,’ said Spencer.
RETURNING HOME
While she wasn’t actively looking to leave Arts Centre Melbourne, which only recently secured funding from the Victorian Government for a major redevelopment of its theatres building, Spencer noted that positions like the Barbican role ‘come up often only once in a person’s career’.
She continued: ‘So when the opportunity came to my attention late last year, it just felt that it was the right time to look at it, and professionally I think it’s really good solid next step for me.’
There was also a personal dimension to her taking up a leadership role in the UK, Spencer added. ‘My parents are in London and so the opportunity to be able to work somewhere like the Barbican and be close to my family was really a very attractive option.
‘I’ve been in Australia 23 years now and I only came for a year, so I stayed a little longer than I planned, but Melbourne will always be home. We’re keeping our house here, all of our children were born in Australia and identify very strongly as Australians, and so the plan is that in due course, Melbourne will become home again – but for now, London will be our new town.’
LEADERS PAY TRIBUTE
Victorian Arts Centre Trust President, Ian Carson AM, acknowledged Spencer’s seven years at the state-owned institution, which she joined in November 2014 after previously working in a variety of roles at Sydney Opera House over 11 years.
‘Claire’s legacy is in her leadership and extraordinary focus in steering the organisation to financial sustainability; embedding a values-led, people-first culture; setting a strategic commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion; and in being the unstoppable driving force behind the transformative renewal project, Reimagining Arts Centre Melbourne,’ Carson said.
‘Her trademark resilience, tenacity, passion and her commitment to her team, the sector, and the community we serve as Victoria’s arts centre is a mark of her outstanding leadership.’
Victorian Minister for Creative Industries Danny Pearson MP said Spencer had made a significant contribution to the state’s creative sector and cultural life.
‘Claire has led Arts Centre Melbourne with great passion and determination, with an unwavering support for artists during times of unprecedented challenge. Her conviction has translated to benefits for many Victorians and the state’s creative industry. I wish her every success in her new role,’ he said.
Chair of the City of London Corporation’s Barbican Centre Board, Tom Sleigh, welcomed Spencer to the organisation as it celebrates its 40th birthday.
‘I am delighted that Claire is to head-up the Barbican team as CEO. She brings a brilliant reputation as an arts venue administrator and a track-record in the sector that is second to none. Her leadership on equity, diversity and inclusion issues in previous roles was a significant additional factor in the recruitment panel’s clear endorsement,’ said Sleigh.
CELEBRATING A LEGACY
Early in her tenure as CEO of Arts Centre Melbourne, Spencer worked to improve the culture of the organisation, and went on to deliver an important range of transformative programs, foremost among them the Arts Wellbeing Collective, a sector-wide mental health initiative.
‘I think arts centres have a responsibility to the broader industry that we’re an important part of, and the Arts Wellbeing Collective was an interesting new expression of what I think that responsibility can look like,’ she told ArtsHub.
‘It now services over 400 organisations and you hear stories every week of the difference that it’s made either to an organisation or to an individual. And that to me is something I’m incredibly proud of, and the team at Arts Centre Melbourne who’ve worked on it right from the beginning, as well as the new people who’ve joined over time, remain utterly, completely committed to that program.’
Read: Creating better mental health in the performing arts
Spencer has also overseen the delivery of the Australian Music Hall of Fame in the Australian Music Vault; the completion of the $40 million replacement of the State Theatre flying system during COVID closure; navigated the pandemic response and recovery over a two-year period, including returning live performance to Victoria with the Live at the Bowl program; and secured government support for the multi-million dollar Reimagining Arts Centre Melbourne program.
She is especially proud of less tangible but hugely important changes to the culture of Arts Centre Melbourne that occurred during her seven years at the helm.
‘For example, we’re currently looking for a First Nations executive who will work at the heart of the organisation to really deepen those relationships and that work, and so it’s those cultural changes – which I’m hoping will endure – that I feel really proud of.’
While adamant that she and her family will regularly return to Melbourne, meaning Spencer will be able to view the fruits of her labour once the Arts Centre’s upgrade is completed, she knows it won’t be quite the same.
‘I won’t be able to nip backstage to see the crew or pop up into the fly tower, but I will be able to – I hope – be welcomed back to walk around and see how the works are going. It’ll be exciting to see it take shape. It’s really a very bold and visionary step for the Victorian Government to be investing in and I’ve spent seven years working on it, pretty much, so yeah – there will always be a little bit of me that will be interested in how it’s progressing.’
REGRETS AND ADVICE
Spencer has few regrets from her time at Arts Centre Melbourne: ‘That doesn’t mean I haven’t done everything right, but it means I look forward; I try and learn from things that haven’t gone well and build on them.
‘I suppose I wish I’d spent more time in theatres. There’s just so much opportunity to see and engage with artists and with art but there was never enough time – but I think that’s a challenge for most arts administrators across the world,’ she laughed.
A global search for Spencer’s replacement is about to get underway and she says she has every confidence that the Arts Centre Trust will recruit an ‘incredible leader’ for the team.
‘I don’t want to give any advice [to the Trust] but I do just want to say it’s been an honour and a privilege to be the Chief Executive of Arts Centre Melbourne. It’s been an experience that I’ve treasured and that I will always remember,’ she said.
In a message to whomever succeeds her, Spencer added: ‘Enjoy it. That would be my advice. Just enjoy it and enjoy all the incredible people that you’ll get to meet, to work with, and to have as part of your everyday life.’
