LONDON.- A utopian vision for the arts when it opened its doors to the public in March 1982, the iconic Barbican Centre remains at the forefront of the arts as it celebrates its 30th anniversary . With a world-class arts and learning programme spanning and often combining theatre, art, architecture, design, film, music, opera and dance, the Barbican pushes the boundaries of all major art forms for its diverse audiences. To mark this milestone, the Barbican today looks to major future developments, and announces programme highlights from its 2012-13 season.

Sir Nicholas Kenyon, Managing Director, said: “This is a defining moment for the Barbican Centre. Thirty years ago the City of London opened the Barbican as a model of the arts in a residential estate, and since then it has become a beacon locally, nationally and internationally for the adventurous arts. Now as our major exhibition on Bauhaus re-examines that concept of all the arts being at the heart of an enlightened life, we are about to launch our first new venue since 1982. The new two-screen cinema, opening this autumn on the corner of Beech Street, will complement our existing venues and provide local cinemas for the City and arts projects for an international centre.

“The Barbican is at the heart of the London 2012 Festival celebrations with a rich programme featuring Cate Blanchett, Peter Sellars, Wynton Marsalis, Einstein on the Beach, and a Pina Bausch season which is selling out fast. We are working ever more closely with the ‘alliance for creative excellence’, recently praised as a model by the Henley Report on Cultural Education, with the Guildhall School of Music & Drama and our resident London Symphony Orchestra – who are recording the core orchestral soundtrack for the Opening and Closing Ceremonies .

“As our venues expand and the Guildhall School’s major new Milton Court building with its concert hall and studio theatres opens in 2013, we are looking forward in our ambition to create a vibrant cultural quarter in the heart of the City of London. This creative hub of performance and learning will combine the continued strength of our partnerships with our associates and collaborators, to create huge opportunities for the future. We are very grateful for our continued core funding from the City of London, enhanced by support from Arts Council England, the City Bridge Trust and our growing community of supporters, helping to transform our vision to provide world-class arts and learning into a reality .”

Louise Jeffreys , Director of Programming said: “The arts respond to the times. The Barbican has, over the last three decades, been at the forefront of the huge shifts in what artists create, what audiences want, and of what an arts centre can be for both local communities and to national and international audiences. The Barbican is playing a major role in London’s cultural offering in what is an incredible year for the arts. Today we announce further projects taking place this summer as part of the London 2012 Festival, but we also look to the future. Our autumn season presents the very best quality arts – across all genres – as we continue to lead the way through our next thirty years.”

The headline projects, announced today, are as follows:

• Step Into The Dark – opening season for new Barbican Cinemas – a two-month-long, multi-season, cross-arts programme which will explore themes of dystopia, tragedy and surrealism through seven film programmes.

• Major new photography exhibition – surveying photography of the 1960s and 1970s from an international perspective, International Photography of the 1960s and 1970s will include renowned photographers from across the globe, all working during two of the most memorable decades of the 20th Century. Featuring a pantheon of leading figures of modern photography including David Goldblatt , Boris Mikhailov and Bruce Davidson, this exhibition tells a history of photography, through the photography of history.

• New music projects for Summer 2012 – Toumani Diabaté, Roots Manuva and Criolo are amongst the first acts announced to join Gilberto Gil in the three-day Back2Black festival at Old Billingsgate; Gil also plays the Barbican Hall in a special concert with the LSO and conductor Francois-Xavier Roth; Malian musician Rokia Traoré presents three new projects Donguili - Donke - Damou (Sing - Dance - Dream); and Tina Benko leads the cast of the much anticipated Desdemona, a collaboration between Traoré, Toni Morrison and Peter Sellars. All part of the London 2012 Festival.

• New work from Michael Clark Company; the Barbican and the Company announce the renewal of their Artistic Associate partnership for a further three years.

• International Theatre projects – presented this autumn are TR Warszawa ’s Nosferatu, a Barbican co-commission directed by Grzegorz Jarzyna inspired by Bram Stoker’s Dracula; and Forests, a new production from Calixto Bieito drawing on Shakespearean texts.

• Rain Room – a cutting edge new commission by rAndom International for The Curve will create a space of perpetual rainfall, through which visitors can wander freely without getting wet.

• 2012/13 music highlights – Gustavo Dudamel and the Los Angeles Philharmonic give their first International Associate Residency which also features an international conference on the role of the musician in the 21st Century; Chilly Gonzales collaborates with the BBC Symphony Orchestra in an orchestral hip-hop project; a special weekend celebrates Philip Glass’ 75th birthday; a double bill of Oliver Knussen’s fantasy operas Where the Wild Things Are and Higglety Pigglety Pop!; the London Jazz Festival returns; and two new Associate Ensemble relationships begin, the Academy of Ancient Music and the Britten Sinfonia, who join the London Symphony Orchestra , the Barbican’s Resident Orchestra since the Centre opened in 1982, the BBC Symphony Orchestra , the Barbican‘s Associate Orchestra and Associate Producer, Serious.

• Unleashed – an urban tale for the Theatre’s main stage featuring the inspirational talent of Boy Blue Entertainment’s Da Bratz and Blues, with 300 of the Barbican’s young artists including poets, drummers, filmmakers and musicians working with a professional theatre team.

• Barbican Weekender – a popular staple of the Barbican calendar, the Weekender returns in November celebrating the influence of digital technology on the arts.