Hannah Azieb Pool, author and jouranlist, is due to become Artistic Director at the Bernie Grant Arts Centre from February 2019.

Most recently Senior Programmer for Contemporary Culture at the Southbank Centre, Hannah curated Africa Utopia, the annual festival celebrating arts and ideas from across Africa and the diaspora, and was key programmer for the WOW Women of the World Festival.

Hannah said: ‘This is a great opportunity to lead Bernie Grant Arts Centre at such an exciting time. 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.’

Chair of the Bernie Grant Arts Centre board, Dotun Adebayo MBE said: ‘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… that’s what you’re going to get from Bernie Grant Arts Centre with her at the artistic helm – THE REAL DEAL.’

Hannah’s Guardian column, The New Black, was the first black-beauty focused column in a national British newspaper. She has also written books Fashion Cities Africa and My Fathers’ Daughter. She has written for publications including The Times, Stylist and Vogue UK. She is 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of LIFT  (the London International Festival of Theatre) and is a patron of the SI Leeds Prize, the biannual award for unpublished fiction by UK Black and Asian women.

First opened in 2007, the Bernie Grant Arts Centre was the vision of Bernie Grant, Tottenham’s late MP, and was designed to create a flagship performing arts centre and a home for culturally diverse artists and creative sector entrepreneurs.

To find out about upcoming events, visit www.berniegrantcentre.co.uk/see