Gus Casely-Hayford

Augustus (Gus) Casely-Hayford is a British curator and cultural historian with Ghanaian roots. He has been awarded a Cultural Fellowship as King's College Institute Associate (at King's College London) and a Fellowship at the University of London's School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS). In 2016 he presented the television series Tate Walks for Sky Arts. In 2010, as part of the Wonderful Africa Season, he presented Lost Kingdoms of Africa, four 60-minute television programmes for BBC Two and BBC Four; in 2014, the series was broadcast by the French-speaking TV channel Histoire. He was commissioned to present a second series in February 2012. He wrote the book Lost Kingdoms of Africa in 2012, published by Bantam Press. He presented a study of William Hogarth and the 18th century for the television series The Genius of British Art, on Channel 4 in 2010 and hosted The Culture Show for BBC 2 in 2012. He is working towards a National Portrait Gallery exhibition on the Abolition of Slavery.

Casely-Hayford gained a PhD in African History from the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), London University. Casely-Hayford is the former Executive Director of Arts Strategy for Arts Council England. He was previously Director of inIVA (Institute of International Visual Art), a London-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, the largest African arts season ever hosted in Britain, involving more than 150 cultural organisations, including the BBC. He also led the British Museum's diversity programme. He has advised the United Nations and the Canada Council, Council for Culture of the Dutch and Norwegian Arts Councils, and commissioned to develop the future audience vision for the Tate family of galleries. In 2012 he was a Jury member of the National Open Art Competition and the National Portrait Gallery BP Portrait Award. In 2013 he was the Chair of the Caine Prize judges. He was chair of the advisory panel for the 2015 British Museum exhibition West Africa: Word, Symbol, Song and co-authored the accompanying book of the same title.

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