Barbican Business Events has announced a record-breaking year of achievements in 2023/2024, cementing its position as not just an iconic multi-arts centre but also a leading venue for conferences, meetings, and events. With a significant increase in events, attendance, and financial performance, the Barbican continues to be a convener of critical business thinking that creates connections and provokes debate in the heart of London. In the 2023/2024 financial year, the Barbican Business Events team has:
- Hosted 402 events (up 14 per cent from 352 in the previous year).
- Attracted 189,000 attendees (up from 167,000, a 13 per cent increase).
- Contributed more than £2.9 million to the Barbican as a whole.
As a not-for-profit organisation, the funds generated from these commercial events are reinvested into Barbican’s arts and learning programme, enabling the widest possible range of people to experience the joy of the arts.
The Barbican Business Events team also welcomed two new hires. They join a team praised and recognised for its commitment to excellence in the past year. Customer testimonials over the year mentioned the team’s responsiveness, dedication, ‘can-do attitude’ and ‘obvious operational expertise’. The Barbican’s Venue Verdict scores also reflect this, with 100 per cent of respondents awarding a 9–10 out of 10 when asked how likely they would be to recommend the venue or use it again. This figure is 20 per cent above the industry average.
Specific successes included:
- Significant growth in hires of the Barbican Hall.
- 28 graduation events for nine different universities.
- 11 multi-day / centre-wide corporate conferences.
- The London premiere of the Academy Award-winning film Poor Things.
- Three London Fashion Week runway shows for Supriya Lele, Roksanda and 16 Arlington.
- 31 weddings.
Barbican Business Events will continue looking for new ways to grow and expand its offering. One area includes its innovative use of unusual and flexible spaces across the building, such as its car parks, which were used this year to host London Fashion Week shows.
In addition, 2024/2025 will see the Barbican advance its ambitious Renewal Programme, which will support urgent infrastructure upgrades and reinvigorate the Centre by transforming underutilised spaces whilst enhancing its operational and environmental performance.
“Reflecting on this past year, I am thrilled with our team’s success. They have worked tirelessly to deliver outstanding events, and the positive feedback from our clients has been incredibly rewarding,” comments Jackie Boughton, the Barbican’s Director of Commercial. “The surge in bookings and attendee numbers, combined with the diversity of events we’ve hosted, underscore our commitment to excellence. As we look to the year ahead, we are eager to build on this momentum as we continue to innovate and create even more memorable events.”
About Barbican Business Events
The Barbican is one of the world’s leading conference and international arts venues. Located in the City of London, it can hold meetings for 10-2,000 delegates in its fully equipped concert hall, theatres, conference suites, and boardrooms. Barbican Business Events brings together the venue’s expertise in the arts and corporate meetings.
Built as part of London’s Barbican development and officially opened in March 1982 by HM Queen Elizabeth, unlike many other venues, Barbican was specifically built with the dual purpose of holding conferences and arts events presenting a diverse range of art, music, theatre, dance, film and creative learning.
The Barbican’s Business Events team contributes to the venue’s future success. To make the most of Barbican’s rich culture and heritage, Barbican Business Events was created to bring together their expertise in three very different areas – the arts, creative learning, and corporate business. This approach to corporate events is based on stronger, more in-depth partnerships with their artistic, creative learning, and development teams to bring more creativity and rich content to events.
