Head of Cinema

About us

The Barbican is an international arts, conference and learning organisation in the heart of the City of London.

Across its theatres, concert halls, cinemas, galleries, business venues, public and community spaces, the Barbican showcases the most exciting artists and performers from around the world, pushing traditional artistic boundaries and helping us understand our lives in new and unexpected ways. Each year, the Centre presents hundreds of different performances, events and exhibitions that entertain and inspire millions of people, create connections, provoke debate, and reflect the world we live in.

Firmly rooted in its neighbourhood, the Barbican collaborates on projects with local communities, and supports young people and emerging talent to develop their artistic practice and access jobs in the creative industry.

About the role

The cinema programme presents the best international new releases, talks with filmmakers, major curated seasons and leads in the presentation of the performing arts on screen. We invest in the artists of today and tomorrow by creating a platform for independent directors and working with a variety of international film festivals and arts partners. We showcase the work of young programmers and filmmakers and collaborate with the Guildhall School of Music & Drama.

As a senior member of the Barbican’s artistic and management teams the Head of Cinema will play a leading role in defining and developing the cinema strategy, ensuring a balance between the curated cinema programme, performance cinema and the first run cinema programme.

You will be expected to provide clear leadership to the cinema team as well as contributing to and supporting cross arts initiatives and collaborations at the Barbican to deliver the overall artistic strategy, requiring excellent leadership and collaborative team working skills.

You will have extensive knowledge of films and cinema history, with an understanding   of the changing trends in the sector including methods of film consumption, audience experience and distribution models. You are likely to have substantial experience of curating film festivals, seasons and new release programming, be well networked in the cinema sector and have ability to generate artistic ideas and projects.