UNIVERSITY NEWS LAST UPDATED : 25 JULY
Award-winning writer, performer and educator, Casey Bailey, has been awarded BCU’s Alumnus of the Year 2024 award.
Casey has changed the face of poetry and performance in our city, as well as helping to shape younger generations on their educational journey across the region.
The Alumnus graduated with an MA in Education in 2017 and has since worked his way up to become an Assistant Head Teacher, as well as a hugely successful poet, writer and performer. He received his Alumnus of the Year award during BCU’s Graduation Ceremony on Thursday 25 July for the College of Education and Social Work.
But poetry and performance weren’t always on the cards for Casey, and neither was attending university, working in education, and almost everything he has achieved in his life so far. Raised in Nechells, Birmingham, Casey had a tough time at school but had big dreams of becoming a rapper – or a teacher.
He said: “I grew up in a loving, but strict, household. I was one of five siblings, and although the importance of education was instilled in me, I had a wide range of troubles at school. I was removed from certain lessons, and I was even kicked out of some of my GCSE exams. Growing up, I always really wanted to be a rapper, or a teacher; both dreams that I gave up on but ended up returning to later in life.
“At school, I would get suspended, get into fights, have arguments and be offensive to teachers. At age 19, I was diagnosed with ADHD, and in hindsight, my diagnosis made sense for how I’d acted all the way through school. But growing up in Nechells wasn’t easy, there were a lot of gangs and knife crime happening around me, which I was either engaging with, or on the periphery of.
“Amazingly, I left school with seven qualifications, and I went to Cadbury Sixth Form College. I specifically chose Cadbury as it was a college where a lot of my friends and gang members weren’t going, and I wanted to get out of it. It was a long three years, but I eventually ended up going to university, something I’d never even thought about before college.
“Other than my elder sister, no one in my family had gone to university. It was never even a discussion in my house. In Year 12, when UCAS started to get mentioned, I didn’t know what everyone was going on about. I always enjoyed PE, and my teachers encouraged me to do Sport Science or something similar. My girlfriend, who is now my wife, chose the University of Worcester, so I followed.”
Casey arrived at BCU in 2015 to complete an MA in Education after being given the opportunity to have it funded by his workplace.
He said: “It was several years after my undergraduate studies when I found myself at BCU. I’d never been in a position to fund a Master’s degree, but in one of my first jobs after university as an Assistant Vice Principal at Q3 Academy, I was told that I had the opportunity to complete a Master’s that the school would pay for, and it made a lot of sense for me to do it.
“I love academia, and I love studying. Because of my ADHD, I can be a bit all over place, so my favourite thing is having proper organised study as it provides me with a huge amount of structure. I completed my dissertation around teacher workload, which is something I still refer to daily. I picked up so many skills during my master’s degree, it made me more of an expert in what I do for a living and gave me the confidence to back-up my thoughts, opinions and ideas with actual research. The reality is that qualifications really do open so many more doors.”
After releasing his debut collection of poetry, 'Adjusted' in 2018, Casey went on to become the Birmingham Poet Laureate from 2020-2022. In 2021, he released his second poetry collection 'Please Do Not Touch'.
Casey has performed nationally and internationally. He was commissioned by the BBC to write ‘The Ballad of The Peaky Blinders’ in 2019 and in 2020 the poem was internationally recognised, winning a Webby Award. In 2022, Casey won a Royal Television Society award for a film for his poem ‘Dear Brum’. In 2023, Casey wrote and performed ‘Be Continuously United’, a poem celebrating BCU’s 180-year history and the impact of our graduates on the world.
It’s hard to imagine Casey as not being the celebrated poet he is today, but the opportunity to go down this new path came about as a total surprise to the graduate.
He said: “I always wanted to be a rapper, a Grime or Hip-Hop MC. I had an affinity for words, but never thought I’d be a poet. In my eyes, poetry was dull, and I’d spent many years making music that may be seen as negative or aggressive, which was a reflection of how and where I grew up. But one day, a boy a few years younger than me, who I was essentially mentoring, was making bad decisions and I asked him why. He quoted one of my lyrics back to me, and it challenged me. I realised that people were looking up to me, and I didn’t want people to be causing trouble because I was encouraging it with my music. So, I completely stopped writing music.
“Years later, I found myself accompanying some kids from school on a retreat. There was a poet there, and he would do a poem to wrap up each day. I said to the kids that I could do that. They didn’t believe me, so I went ahead and wrote one. By chance, I was there with another member of staff who was running a performing arts academy on a weekend, and I jokingly offered to run the poetry workshops. She ended up taking me up on it, so I started hosting regular workshops, and my name was soon being mentioned at national conferences and I was asked to host masterclasses.
“My brother questioned why anyone would want to work with me, when I wasn’t calling myself a poet. I thought, if I’m going to do this, I need to do it properly. I got involved with poetry organisations in Birmingham, doing open mics, and started writing. I even started Bailey’s Rap and Poetry Club at the school I was based at. I started to make money from it, and got loads of exciting commissions, from Symphony Hall and Birmingham Library to the Royal Shakespeare Company. I published books and performed at literature festivals.
“I’ve got so many poetry highlights, but my favourite was working on ‘Beyond the Bricks of Brum’, which I created with Symphony Hall and the BBC’s Symphony Orchestra. The project became so much bigger than I’d ever imagined, and it was all over TV and radio. On the evening of the performance, my family were in the audience, and some of the poems which were included were about my mum, who has passed away. It was emotional. There were also pieces about Birmingham, and what it is to be a Brummie. Someone said to me afterwards that my poem had finally made them feel at home in our city. It was an amazing feeling.
“I love writing, it’s given me so many opportunities and I’ve been able to perform all over the world. Poetry is an important vehicle for expression, for people who enjoy writing, and for those who are dealing with different things. I’m very blessed and fortunate that my love of writing has turned into a successful, engaging and interesting career.”
One of Casey’s biggest pieces of work, ‘GrimeBoy’, opened doors for him to make a name for himself in the theatre industry.
In 2019, he was part of the country's first programme designed to develop the presentation of spoken word poetry in theatre, in collaboration with the Birmingham Repertory Theatre. The play, GrimeBoy, tells the story of an inner-city teenager who wants to be the greatest grime MC. The production was commissioned by the Birmingham Rep in 2022, and enjoyed sold-out success on stage.
Casey’s next production, ‘Please Do Not Touch’ will take to the stage at Coventry’s Belgrade Theatre in September 2024.
An extension of Casey’s poetry collection of the same name, Please Do Not Touch follows the story of Mason, an activist, who has always been able to talk his way out of trouble until an incident at a heritage house takes place. Finding himself in a Young Offender Institution, Mason must navigate how to keep speaking up when everything is designed to silence him. The show asks questions about colonial legacy, heritage and how stories are told, all whilst shining a light on the criminal justice system.
The desire to have a positive impact on those around him has led Casey back to his first love; music. Nowadays, Casey is also an established musician and has released several singles and EPs, all with a positive stance.
He said: “Writing music and putting it out there lets me reach people who couldn’t care less about poetry or theatre shows. Music is just more global. On the first listen, listeners may think it is quite negative or angry, but if you really listen, you realise that my music is positive and affirming.
“It’s kind of my secret mission, sneaking a bit of positivity into a genre that is typically negative and can have a damaging impact. My latest single, Forward, is all about embracing change, pushing forward, and growth.”
Alongside his work in poetry and performance, Casey is also an Assistant Head Teacher at Idsall School in Shropshire, and he aims to address barriers for students having access to or engaging with the curriculum. He has worked in several schools supporting their development, school culture and behaviour, as well as working within his own community to support and promote the development of those who contribute to their environment.
He said: “I love teaching, and it feels like a real privilege to be able to. I guess it’s surprising that I would even become a teacher, considering I was a lot of trouble when I was at school. To be able to work with kids who were like me growing up, on the brink of exclusion, that’s when I love my job, because I know that I can help them get through this.
“There’s a lot of pressure on kids, and some may scream, shout and swear at me, but it’s easy to forgive them. I’m not going to hold a grudge with any of them. As a teacher, I can provide them with the safety and security that they need, so I’m blessed to be able to work with so many great kids in my area.”
From working in education to becoming an established poet, Casey has taken every opportunity that has come his way, all whilst raising a family of his own with his wife and three sons. How does he find the time to do it all?
He said: “I’m a very relaxed, chilled and comfortable person, and I’m fortunate to be like that. I’ve been around some really bad things, seen things I shouldn’t have seen, and I’ve survived it. So when it comes to getting everything done, I just put the work in. I work hard and don’t like to let people down, but I also have to remember that it’s not life or death. I think my natural disposition and approach to work really helps me to balance everything out with my home and personal life too.”
On receiving BCU’s Alumnus of the Year award, Casey said: “I feel ridiculously privileged to receive the Alumnus of the Year award. I’ve done so many cool bits with BCU over the years since I graduated, but this is genuinely amazing.
“Every now and then, I have doubts in myself that people are going to stop asking me to get involved with things, and that people will get bored of me. So, when something of this magnitude happens, I appreciate it. Also, to be able to graduate and celebrate again, is amazing. I have graduated so many times now, and I still love doing it!”
The Alumnus was also keen to share his advice to BCU’s Class of 2024. He said: “My advice is to not close doors on yourself, and not to mistake the transportation for the destination.
“Qualifications and accolades are great, but they are not the goal, they are the key to the door, they are the things that get you in the room. If you miss a train, catch a bus. Don’t mistake the vehicle for your actual goal.”