Azieb Pool to Step Down as Artistic Director and CEO of Bernie Grant Arts Centre

After more than six years of transformative leadership, Azieb Pool will step down as Artistic Director and CEO of the Bernie Grant Arts Centre at the end of June 2025.

Appointed in 2019, Azieb has led the organisation through a period of profound change and growth. Under her leadership, BGAC achieved National Portfolio Organisation (NPO) status from Arts Council England for the first time in its history — a landmark moment for the centre and the wider community it serves.

A passionate champion of Black arts and culture, Azieb founded both the Tottenham Literature Festival, the Windrush Festival, and directed ‘Refilwe’, the centres’ first fully ‘home grown’ production, cementing BGAC’s position as a vital cultural space.

Azieb confidently guided the organistion through the global pandemic, and also successfully secured major new partnerships and funding relationships with institutions including the Paul Hamlyn Foundation, Freedlands Foundation, Foyle Foundation and the Barings Foundation, greatly strengthening the organisation’s long-term resilience and reach.

Prior to joining BGAC, Azieb was Senior Programmer for Contemporary Culture at the Southbank Centre and spent more than two decades as an accomplished author and journalist.
Reflecting on her departure, Azieb said:

“It’s been a real honour to lead the Bernie Grant Arts Centre. Over the past six years, we’ve built something bold and joyful. But this is also one of the hardest times for cultural venues — and for Black-led arts spaces in particular. We must protect and champion them like never before.

Stepping away now, though difficult, allows space for the centre to take the next steps toward securing its future and deepening its legacy. I will miss Bernie’s deeply, but I’m excited to spend more time writing, directing and continuing to advocate for the sector from a different place.”

Azieb leaves behind a powerful legacy of vision, collaboration and artist-led leadership. She departs with the heartfelt thanks of the BGAC board.