Gus Casely-Hayford | |
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 Casely-Hayford (2015) | |
| Born | Augustus Lavinus Casely-Hayford 1964 (age 60–61) Wandsworth, London, UK |
| Alma mater | School of Oriental and African Studies |
| Occupation(s) | Curator, historian, broadcaster, lecturer |
| Relatives |
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Augustus Lavinus Casely-HayfordOBE (born 1964) is a British curator, cultural historian, broadcaster and lecturer with ancestralGhanaian roots in theCasely-Hayford family.[1]
He is presently the Director ofV&A East and was formerly the Director of theSmithsonian National Museum of African Art inWashington, DC. He was appointed anOfficer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in June 2018 for his services to Arts and Culture.[2] and Professor of Practice at SOAS in 2021. He was commissioned to present a second TV series ofTate Walks forSky Arts in 2017 featuringDavid Bailey,Helena Bonham Carter,Billy Connolly,Robert Lindsay,Jeremy Paxman andHarriet Walter.[3] Casely-Hayford was awarded the Leader of the Year for Arts and Media by theBlack British Business Awards 2017. He delivered aTED talk in August 2017.[4] He has been awarded a Cultural Fellowship atKing's College, London, and a Fellowship at theUniversity of London'sSchool of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS).[5][6]
In 2010, as part of the Wonderful Africa Season,[7] he presentedLost Kingdoms of Africa, four 60-minute television programmes forBBC Two andBBC Four;[8] in 2014, the series was broadcast by the French-speaking TV channelHistoire. He was commissioned to present a second series in February 2012. He wrote the bookLost Kingdoms of Africa in 2012, published byBantam Press. He presented a study ofWilliam Hogarth and the 18th century for the television seriesThe Genius of British Art, onChannel 4, in 2010 and hostedThe Culture Show forBBC 2 in 2012.[9] In 2016 Casely-Hayford presented the television seriesTate Walks forSky Arts. He is also the author of a book onTimbuktu, published in 2018 byLadybird/Penguin. Since 2022, he has hosted a reboot of the long-running archeological television showTime Team, viewable on the Time Team Official Channel on YouTube.
Born in London, England, into the prominent GhanaianCasely-Hayford family, Gus Casely-Hayford attended the privateClayesmore School inDorset from 1978 to 1980,[10][11] and went on to gain a PhD in African History from theSchool of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS),London University.[12][13] Hisdoctoral thesis was titled "A genealogical history of Cape Coast stool families".[14]
He is the former executive director of Arts Strategy forArts Council England.[15][16] He was previously Director ofinIVA (Institute of International Visual Art),[17] aLondon-based arts organisation with a particular emphasis on international practice, which collaborates with partner venues throughout the UK and worldwide. Prior to this, he was the Director of Africa 05,[18] the largest African arts season ever hosted inBritain,[19] involving throughout 2005 more than 150 cultural organisations, including the BBC,[20] the aim of which Casely-Hayford said was to create "sustainable change in the way the art world – and the public – thinks about Africa. ...We don't want this just to be about one year."[21]
He also led theBritish Museum's diversity programme.[20] He has advised theUnited Nations and theCanada Council, Council for Culture of theDutch andNorwegian Arts Councils, and was commissioned to develop the future audience vision for theTate family of galleries. In 2012, he was a Jury member of the National Open Art Competition and theNational Portrait Gallery'sBP Portrait Award. In 2013, he was the Chair of theCaine Prize judges. He was chair of the advisory panel for the 2015British Library exhibitionWest Africa: Word, Symbol, Song and co-authored the accompanying book of the same title.[22][23]
He has presented Tony Knox's award-winningSouth Bank Show about the "Flags of the Fante Coast", produced a documentary onChris Ofili for Channel 4 and presented several series on African culture for BBC World Service. He has presentedBrit Art – Where to Now? for BBC Four.[24] He was a commissioner of arts for theGreater London Authority.
He lectures on world art atSotheby's,Goldsmiths College and theUniversity of Westminster, and is a consultant for organisations such as the United Nations, the Arts Council and theBBC. He is aClore Fellow and is a Trustee of theNational Trust, a member ofEnglish Heritage's Blue Plaque Group and a member of Tate's "Tate for All Board". He is a Judge for the Art Fund's "Museum of the Year" in 2016. He was formerly a Trustee of the National Portrait Gallery and a Council Member ofTate Britain. He also sits on the Caine Prize Council[25] and is a spokesperson for the National Archives' Explore Your Archive programme. Casely-Hayford is a supporter of Sense International.[26][27]
In 2019, he was named as the inaugural director of the forthcomingV&A East,[28][29] due to open in east London in 2025,[30] withYinka Shonibare as an ambassador for the new museum.[31]
In February 2022, Casely-Hayford was announced as the new presenter of the online revival ofTime Team, alongsideNatalie Haynes.[32]
He is the brother of fashion designerJoe Casely-Hayford,OBE (1956–2019), and of lawyerMargaret Casely-Hayford, and (as son of Victor Casely-Hayford, an accountant who trained as a barrister)[33][34] the grandson ofJ. E. Casely Hayford (1866–1930), the greatGold Coast thinker, writer and politician.[35] He is married and has one daughter, and lives in London with his family.[36]
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