# Devyani Saltzman

Devyani Saltzman is a Canadian writer, curator and multidisciplinary cultural programmer. She known for her work in arts and culture, and has held senior positions in three of Canada's major cultural institutions, including as the Director of Public Programming at the Art Gallery of Ontario, the fourth largest museum in North America.
In 2024 she was appointed as the Barbican’s new Director for Arts, working with the centre’s heads of art forms to set the direction of overall programming across cinema, theatre, visual arts, music, immersive experiences and creative collaborations.

## Early life and education

Devyani Saltzman was born in 1979, the granddaughter of Canadian weatherman Percy Saltzman and the daughter of film directors Paul Saltzman and Deepa Mehta. Paul Saltzman, her father, is Jewish Ukrainian; her mother Indian Hindu. They separated when she was 11 years old.
Saltzman received her degree in Human Sciences from Hertford College at Oxford University in 2003. She specialized in sociology and anthropology.

## Writing career

Devyani Saltzman is the author of Shooting Water: A Memoir of Second Chances, Family, and Filmmaking, as well as articles for The Globe and Mail, The National Post, The Literary Review of Canada, the Atlantic, Tehelka, Marie Claire, Room literary journal and The Walrus Magazine. Her debut book Shooting Water: A Memoir of Second Chances, Family, and Filmmaking details the making of her mother, Deepa Mehta’s, third film in her “Elements” trilogy, entitled Water. It was published in Canada (2005), the US and India and received "starred reviews" in both Publishers Weekly and the Library Journal and was called 'A poignant memoir' by The New York Times. Her freelance writing subjects include interviews with Pico Iyer, Sarah Polley, Floria Sigismondi and articles on India, long-term care facilities and immigrant domestic workers.

## Current projects

Saltzman is a founding Curator at Luminato, Toronto's International Arts Festival and has been involved in a number of arts initiatives including Project Bookmark Canada, The Toronto Museum Project as well as being a juror for the National Magazine Awards, Canada Council for the Arts, Ontario Arts Council and The Hilary Weston Writers' Trust Prize for Nonfiction. In 2014 she was appointed Director of Literary Arts at Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity, Canada's national arts hub, where she oversaw year-round programming and public events.
In 2018 she was appointed Director of Public Programming for the Art Gallery of Ontario.
In 2024 she was appointed as the Barbican’s new Artistic lead, working with her heads of art forms to set the direction of overall programming across cinema, theatre, visual arts, music, immersive experiences and creative collaborations.
She works with arts organizations nationally and internationally as an independent curator and consultant on cultural projects. She most recently was a Co-Curator of PEN World Voices Festival, the US' largest festival of art and ideas; a senior consultant with the Confederation Centre for the Arts, advising on the creation of a national forum on the future of the country now called Canada, as part of the Centre's 65million dollar capital project to create a cultural hub in Atlantic Canada and as Curator of the 2023 Indian Summer Festival, Vancouver's Multidisciplinary Arts Festival.

## Awards and governance

| Writers’ Trust of Canada | Vice Chair |
| Toronto Arts Council | President |
| SummerWorks Performance Festival | Board Member |
| Ontario Association of Art Galleries | Board Member |