Cultural curator, educator and creative strategist Nate Agbetu grew up in Hackney, East London. Their adolescence was shaped by homelessness and expulsion from school; however, instead of letting this early adversity define their future, Agbetu became one of 18 people to be accepted for D&AD New Blood Shift, an advertising night school based in London.
Since graduating, Agbetu has gone on to prestigious creative roles for the likes of Nike and NTS. The antithesis of ‘pulling the ladder up’, a theme of his work at these brands and institutions has been to involve local, disadvantaged communities in projects. He works to ensure there is long-term progression and opportunities provided for these communities post-project too. On top of this, Agbetu is an associate lecturer at UAL, helping students understand how to conceptualise and research for their own potential future projects.
Agbetu has been at the helm of many projects that aim to “build intersections between communities” and has already been the creative force behind projects for Nike, Depop and Penguin’s imprint #Merky Books. He works across an expansive array of projects, ranging from community gardens to films, lectures and arts programming. Showing no signs of slowing down, his new project Free Form World, “a creative studio imagining near futures through collaborations, commission and cultural programming," is set to launch in 2023.
Text Louis Merrion
