“We need a generation of forceful dreamers”: Dr Gus Casely-Hayford OBE awarded honorary degree of doctor of arts

In a busy summer graduation award ceremony at the Barbican art centre, City St George’s, University of London conferred Dr Gus Casely-Hayford OBE the Honorary Degree of Doctor of Arts.

Dr Casely-Hayford is a curator, cultural historian, broadcaster, and lecturer whose work has brought to life the vibrancy of global artistic traditions, with a particular focus on African art and heritage.

As the inaugural Director of V&A East, he is shaping a new cultural landmark in London, ensuring that art remains accessible, relevant, and transformative.

His career has been defined by a commitment to expanding the reach of the arts. As the former Executive Director of Arts Strategy for Arts Council England and Director of the Institute of International Visual Art, he has championed international artistic practice, fostering collaborations that transcend borders.

His leadership of Africa 05, the largest African arts season ever hosted in Britain, brought together over 150 cultural organisations, including the BBC, to celebrate the continent’s artistic legacy. He was appointed Professor of Practice in the Department of History of Art and Archaeology at SOAS in 2021.

Closely mirroring City St George’s ethos of bridging the gap between academia and industry to create real-world difference, Dr Casely-Hayford’s influence extends beyond institutions.

He has advised the United Nations, the Canada Council, and numerous European arts councils and his expertise guided the Tate family of galleries in envisioning their future audiences.

A gifted communicator, he has brought art history to life through award-winning television programmes, including Lost Kingdoms of Africa for the BBC and Tate Britain: Great Art Walks for Sky Arts. His writing, including his book West Africa: Word, Symbol, Song, has deepened our understanding of artistic traditions, while his lectures at Sotheby’s, Goldsmiths, and the University of Westminster have inspired the next generation of scholars and practitioners.

He is a Fellow of the Clore Leadership Programme, a Trustee of the National Trust, and a member of English Heritage’s Blue Plaque Group. His dedication to cultural heritage has earned him numerous accolades, including an OBE in 2018 for services to arts and culture.

I am deeply, profoundly, humbly, honoured and grateful to receive this, thank you. And to everyone graduating today, huge congratulations.

Perhaps like you, I knew from the very youngest of ages what I wanted to do – and there grew within me, soon after - a burning, aching, almost irrational desire to succeed.

This obsession with success that gave me both courage and huge doubt, a drive that was the sole constant feature of my formative years.

There were a handful of supernatural people in my graduating year who possessed the kind of talent that makes everything else seem trivial.

But looking back now across my career, I realise that there was another quality beyond hard work, application, direction, desire and astounding talent. It was luck’s complex relative, timing.

I had to wait almost twenty frustrating years for a combination of conditions to drop into alignment and for me to be given my first real significant chance.

Once I had gained that foundational opportunity, things simply clicked. I established momentum, doors opened and a cascade of things that I had longed for simply happened. Where once there were obstacles, suddenly there were opportunities.

Yes, you can forge, galvanise, provoke and encourage change, but simultaneously when the world is ripe for change it will just happen quickly.

The world has not in my lifetime felt riper and readier for change, more in need of profound shifts in thinking, new approaches, disciplines in need of reconsideration, practices in need of profound adaptation, our sector in need of new blood.

We need fresh minds to muse upon big problems and to harness new technologies to solve the seemingly unsolvable, resolve the intractable.

The world is ready for you – and where it might not be, go and make it ready. We need a generation of forceful dreamers, people who have the energy to encourage the world to make the shifts that are necessary.

One of the most pleasurable parts of my job is to fulfil my commitment to take our museum to young people – to rethink what museums might be through the eyes of the young.

I see that, feel that energy here – that electricity of volcanic, ferocious talent, of great potential yet to be unleashed upon a hungry world.

Please do not lightly compromise on your dreams: dream, dream, dream until the world yields to your beauty.

We live in a time starved of dreams – and this special crucible of aspiration feels like a life jacket, a beacon in storm – dreams are critical to our shared future.

If anyone ever asked me for advice, I would say, dream, work hard, be scarily nice, and dream, dream and dream – compromise occasionally, but on the road to a bigger dream.

Thank you to all the staff, parents and friends who are here to support them, no career is crafted without support, without love, without companionship.