In case you missed it Bernie Grant Arts Centre appointed curator, author and journalist Hannah Azieb Pool as its new Artistic Director, earlier this year. Hannah most recently served as Senior Programmer for Contemporary Culture at the Southbank Centre, where she curated Africa Utopia, the annual festival celebrating arts and ideas from across Africa and the diaspora, and was a key programmer of the WOW Women of the World festival.
“This is a great opportunity to lead Bernie Grant Arts Centre at such an exciting time,’ says Hannah. ‘It is an honour to build on the vision of Bernie Grant MP and the first ten years of this vital creative space. I believe the Bernie Grant Arts Centre can become one of London’s artistic powerhouses at the very heart of its community and to develop an international reputation as a centre of excellence and first rate cultural diversity.”
Well known for her Guardian column ‘The New Black’, the first black-beauty focused column in a national British newspaper, and her books: Fashion Cities Africa and My Fathers’ Daughter. Hannah has written for many international publications including The Times, Stylist and Vogue Magazine UK, while previous roles include co-curator of Fashion Cities Africa exhibition at the Brighton Pavilion Museum, Associate Editor of Arise Magazine, and Chair of UKFeminista. Hannah is a trustee of LIFT (the London International Festival of Theatre) and is a patron of the SI Leeds Prize, the biannual award for unpublished fiction by UK Black and Asian women.
Dotun Adebayo MBE, Chair of the Board, of the BGAC warmly welcomed the appointment: ‘This is amazing. Hannah Azieb Pool truly understands the contemporary cultural landscape and is one of the finest minds of her generation for critical thinking about artistic performance. And when I say ‘watch this space’, expect the unexpected and be prepared for what you couldn’t possibly prepare yourself for. Hannah’s the real deal. And that’s what you’re going to get from Bernie Grant Arts Centre with her at the artistic helm – THE REAL DEAL.
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