Beattie Casely-Hayford (June 1922 – 6 August 1989) was a Ghanaian engineer. He was the first director of the Ghana Arts Council, a co-founder of the Ghana National Dance Ensemble, and a director of the Ghana Broadcasting Corporation (GBC). Family Beattie Casely-Hayford was the eldest son of Essie and Archibald Casely-Hayford, a lawyer, Gold Coast nationalist and former Minister of Agriculture and Natural Resources in Ghana's First Republic. His brother was Louis Casely-Hayford, an engineer and former CEO of Volta River Authority in Ghana. Casely-Hayford's was a member of the prominent Casely-Hayford family, his grandparents were Beatrice Madelene (née Pinnock) and Joseph Ephraim Casely Hayford, a Gold Coast lawyer, author, journalist, educator, politician and Pan-Africanist. Early years Casely-Hayford was born in Sekondi, Ghana, which was then the Gold Coast, and educated at Forrest Hill House School and Dulwich College, England. His education in England was interrupted when he returned to the Gold Coast at the onset of World War II. Casely-Hayford was self employed at this time. He extracted coconut oil to make soap and ran two garages which repaired and spray-painted cars. Career Casely-Hayford trained for a year in England as a Totalisator Technician for the Kumasi Race Course; and worked at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, then Kumasi Institute of Technology, as the Maintenance Officer. Later, he served as the Director and Operations Manager for Ghana Poultry Farm, Nungua; Director of the Arts Council of Ghana; Director of Ghana Broadcasting Corporation's Television division (GBC TV); Technical Director of Modern Signs; and then finally settled into private business. He owned and operated Caselyco Sound Studio, Signals and Controllers, Intek Engineering, and finally Televid Video and Audio. Ghana Arts Council Casely-Hayford's interests included art and science. Ghana's former Prime Minister Dr. Kwame Nkrumah asked Nana Kobina Nketsiah to have Casely-Hayford start up the Arts Council of Ghana after the British relinquished the then Roger Club, a social club for Accra's elite that was located on Accra's Atlantic coast. Casely-Hayford became the first director of the Ghana Arts Council. He was responsible for bringing to the fore the early concert party groups and plays. He also had the British Council sponsor drama performances and movies of Shakespeare plays. He also collaborated with the artist and musician Saka Acquaye, who succeeded him as the director of the Ghana Arts Council. Saka Acquaye's plays were also featured at the Accra