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Nicholas Kenyon, 56, was announced Thursday as the new managing director of London's Barbican Centre - as predicted exclusively on this site. He succeeds Sir John Tusa, who retires in the summer. Kenyon is a safe pair of hands to take over the Barbican. As an active programmer, however, head of the BBC Proms for the past decade, he is unlikely to be satisfied with the managing director's role without absorbing some of the artistic director's functions. That will leave Graham Sheffield, the resourceful incumbent, in search of a better job. Kenyon's key priority will be to find fresh funding sources for the Centre, now the City of London is putting on the squeeze. He will also aim to place the Barbican at the centre of the 2012 Olympics, ahead of the rival South Bank whose artistic director, Jude Kelly, chairs the Olympic arts planning committee. A former critic for the Observer and the New Yorker, Kenyon at one time controlled both the Proms and BBC's Radio 3. His Proms post is now likely to be turned over to the present Radio 3 chief, Roger Wright. NL To be notified of the next Lebrecht article, please email mikevincent at scena dot org Visit every week to read Norman Lebrecht's latest column. [Index] 
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Visit every week to read Norman Lebrecht's latest column. 