Extraordinary Creatives

Odcinki

• 
  Why Making Bad Work Is the Secret to Great Art with Simone Brewster 16.08.2026 1godz 32min

  Welcome back to Extraordinary Creatives. Today's guest is the remarkable Simone Brewster. Simone is an artist whose work moves between sculpture, painting, jewellery, furniture, architecture, and public installation. On paper those disciplines might seem worlds apart, but beneath them all is one beautifully consistent line of enquiry.  Simone creates what she calls intimate architectures: objects and spaces that shape how we feel, how we connect and how we experience belonging. Drawing on Black diasporic histories, architecture, material culture and memory, her work feels both timeless and unmistakably contemporary. You may have seen her exhibition at the Design Museum in London, or her work in the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington D.C. In this conversation we talk about growing up in London, finding your creative handwriting, why making bad work is essential to making great work, and how to balance self-initiated projects with commissions, jewellery with public spaces, and creativity with business. KEY TAKEAWAYS So many creatives end up defining themselves by what they make, when actually it's the enquiry underneath the work that matters most. If you stay true to that, your work can evolve across disciplines whilst still feeling unmistakably yours. Developing your creative handwriting means accepting that bad work will sit alongside the good. Not as a failure, but as a necessary part of the line of enquiry that makes the work unmistakably yours. Creativity and commerce aren't opposing forces. Learning how to build a business around your creativity gives your practice the time, space, and stability it needs to flourish - creating the conditions for your best work to exist. BEST MOMENTS “The difference isn't whether you make bad work. It's whether you're willing to keep going, learn from it and make the next piece.” “You never know who is watching you….do the work - share the work.” "Your peers are going to be one of the most valuable resources you ever have." “That cultivation, staying connected to your true fans, your champions, is one of the best things you could be doing.” EPISODE RESOURCES https://www.instagram.com/Simonebrewster_london/ https://www.simonebrewster.co.uk/Sign up for Simone’s newsletter here / https://mailchi.mp/simonebrewster/welcome-and-subscribe PODCAST HOST BIO With over 35 years in the art world, Ceri has worked closely with leading artists and arts professionals, managed public and private galleries and charities, and curated more than 250 exhibitions and events. She has sold artworks to major museums and private collectors and commissioned thousands of works across diverse media, from renowned artists such as John Akomfrah, Pipilotti Rist, Rafael Lozano-Hemmer and Vito Acconci. Now, she wants to share her extensive knowledge with you, so you can excel and achieve your goals. **** Ceri Hand Coaching Membership: Group coaching, live art surgeries, exclusive masterclasses, portfolio reviews, weekly challenges. Access our library of content and resource hub anytime and enjoy special discounts within a vibrant community of peers and professionals. Ready to transform your art career? Join today! https://cerihand.com/membership/ **** Unlock Your Artworld Network Self Study Course Our self-study video course, "Unlock Your Artworld Network," offers a straightforward 5-step framework to help you build valuable relationships effortlessly. Gain the tools and confidence you need to create new opportunities and thrive in the art world today. https://cerihand.com/courses/unlock_your_artworld_network/ **** Book a Discovery Call Today To schedule a personalised 1-2-1 coaching session with Ceri or explore our group coaching options, simply email us at hello@cerihand.com **** Discover Your Extraordinary Creativity Visit www.cerihand.com to learn how we can help you become an extraordinary creative. This Podcast has been brought to you by Disruptive Media. https://disruptivemedia.co.uk/
• 
  What Chronic Illness Taught Me About Creativity 12.08.2026 31min

  There's something I've been thinking about for quite a while now. It's something I've talked about with close friends, but hardly ever publicly. Not because it's a secret. And certainly not because I'm embarrassed by it. I think, if I'm honest, I just never wanted it to define me. But over the last few years, I've realised that by not talking about it, I've probably left out one of the biggest reasons I think the way I do. Because so many of you write to me about Long Covid, chronic fatigue, chronic pain, burnout, depression, caring responsibilities and all the unexpected things that change what we're capable of physically or mentally, it feels like the right time to have this conversation. I'm not a doctor or a neuroscientist and this isn't an episode about fixing chronic illness or pretending mindset alone can overcome real physical limitations. It's about what happens when life changes, and you quietly keep comparing yourself with the person you used to be. Today, I explore what chronic illness has taught me about creativity, why so many artists find themselves grieving a version of themselves they've lost, and share some practical ways to work with your energy instead of constantly fighting against it.  KEY TAKEAWAYS One of the hardest parts of illness, burnout or unexpected change isn't simply what it takes away physically. It's the quiet loss of identity that comes from comparing yourself with who you used to be. Instead of managing time, start managing energy. Becoming curious about the conditions that help you think, create, and recover allows you to build a creative practice that works with the life you have now. Acceptance isn't giving up on treatment or ensuring that things improve. It's simply saying this is where I am today, because once we stop arguing with today's reality, things drastically improve. Protect your energy from the things that deplete you but be sure not to let fear disguise itself as self-care. Learn to tell the difference between a genuine need for rest from avoidance. It is key to building a brave, sustainable creative life. BEST MOMENTS "I hadn't realised you could grieve your own life." “What people couldn't see was the constant calculation happening in the background. Could I afford (the energy) to go out tonight?” "Become a student of your well-being.'" "Ask, what are the conditions that allow this version of me to flourish?" PODCAST HOST BIO With over 35 years in the art world, Ceri has worked closely with leading artists and arts professionals, managed public and private galleries and charities, and curated more than 250 exhibitions and events. She has sold artworks to major museums and private collectors and commissioned thousands of works across diverse media, from renowned artists such as John Akomfrah, Pipilotti Rist, Rafael Lozano-Hemmer and Vito Acconci. Now, she wants to share her extensive knowledge with you, so you can excel and achieve your goals. **** Ceri Hand Coaching Membership: Group coaching, live art surgeries, exclusive masterclasses, portfolio reviews, weekly challenges. Access our library of content and resource hub anytime and enjoy special discounts within a vibrant community of peers and professionals. Ready to transform your art career? Join today! https://cerihand.com/membership/ **** Unlock Your Artworld Network Self Study Course Our self-study video course, "Unlock Your Artworld Network," offers a straightforward 5-step framework to help you build valuable relationships effortlessly. Gain the tools and confidence you need to create new opportunities and thrive in the art world today. https://cerihand.com/courses/unlock_your_artworld_network/ **** Book a Discovery Call Today To schedule a personalised 1-2-1 coaching session with Ceri or explore our group coaching options, simply email us at hello@cerihand.com **** Discover Your Extraordinary Creativity Visit www.cerihand.com to learn how we can help you become an extraordinary creative. This Podcast has been brought to you by Disruptive Media. https://disruptivemedia.co.uk/
• 
  Drawing with Light, Playing with Time with Reuben Wu 09.08.2026 1godz 37min

  I first met Reuben Wu when I was Director of Exhibitions at FACT in Liverpool, and he was one of the coolest musicians in the city, co-founding the band Ladytron and shaping a distinctive sound that travelled around the world. Years on, he's one of the most singular photographers working anywhere - his images are held in the permanent collections of the Guggenheim, MoMA and the Met, and commissioned by Apple and National Geographic, for whom he reimagined Stonehenge as if you were seeing it for the first time. In this episode, we explore his extraordinary journey from a Liverpool kid who dreamed of becoming an artist, to an industrial designer, successful musician, and then to one of the most distinctive visual artists working today. Reuben rigs lights to drones and walks into deserts and snowstorms at night to make work no machine could ever fake - because, as he says, AI can simulate the result but never the process. And he is fierce about something most artists are frightened of: that the artist, not the gallery or the auction house, is the best person to sell and speak for their own work. If you've ever wished someone else would do the talking for you, this one's for you. Follow the show so you never miss an episode. I hope you find this as inspiring as I did. KEY TAKEAWAYS Reuben's story gleefully dismantles the myth of the straight-line creative career. Proving no experience is wasted, everything you do can and does feed into the artist you are, today. Artists are often uniquely qualified to sell their own work because nobody understands the story, the labour, the intention and the meaning behind it better than the person who made it. Breakthroughs happen when you are prepared for them - when you're ready. Luck is preparation when it meets opportunity. Being able to respond to that instinctively to those moments, creates the magic. Tap into the power of portfolio reviews. BEST MOMENTS “No experience is wasted. The industrial designer, the musician, the photographer and the artist all exist inside the work Reuben makes today.” “I call it ecstasy - it's like an ecstatic moment where you are suddenly not within yourself anymore. You are suddenly outside yourself.” “It's like a paintbrush, but with light.” “Creativity is not a destination but a practice of paying attention.” EPISODE RESOURCES https://reubenwu.com https://www.instagram.com/reuben - sign up for Reuben´s newsletter via his bio here. HOST BIO With over 35 years in the art world, Ceri has worked closely with leading artists and arts professionals, managed public and private galleries and charities, and curated more than 250 exhibitions and events. She has sold artworks to major museums and private collectors and commissioned thousands of works across diverse media, from renowned artists such as John Akomfrah, Pipilotti Rist, Rafael Lozano-Hemmer and Vito Acconci. Now, she wants to share her extensive knowledge with you, so you can excel and achieve your goals. ** Ceri Hand Coaching Membership: Group coaching, live art surgeries, exclusive masterclasses, portfolio reviews, weekly challenges. Access our library of content and resource hub anytime and enjoy special discounts within a vibrant community of peers and professionals. Ready to transform your art career? Join today! https://cerihand.com/membership/ ** Unlock Your Artworld Network Self Study Course Our self-study video course, "Unlock Your Artworld Network," offers a straightforward 5-step framework to help you build valuable relationships effortlessly. Gain the tools and confidence you need to create new opportunities and thrive in the art world today. https://cerihand.com/courses/unlock_your_artworld_network/ ** Book a Discovery Call Today To schedule a personalised 1-2-1 coaching session with Ceri or explore our group coaching options, simply email us at hello@cerihand.com ** Discover Your Extraordinary Creativity Visit www.cerihand.com to learn how we can help you become an extraordinary creative. This Podcast has been brought to you by Disruptive Media. https://disruptivemedia.co.uk/
• 
  Why Avoidance Feels So Productive 05.08.2026 8min

  Welcome to the Extraordinary Creatives Podcast. I'm Ceri Hand. A former gallerist, curator,  now coach to creatives all over the world. I help them to make a bigger impact with their work and earn more money doing what they love. Recently, I have been noticing something, and I wonder whether you'll recognise it too.  We often think avoidance is obvious. We imagine it looks like procrastinating or scrolling social media or watching television instead of getting into the studio.  But I honestly don't think that's how avoidance shows up for most creative people. I think it looks responsible. It looks like being busy. It looks like finally getting on top of your admin saying yes to another teaching opportunity. Maybe helping someone else out with their project or sorting your accounts out.  All good things and things that genuinely need doing, and that's why it's so difficult to spot, because from the outside it looks as though you're completely committed to your creative life, and from the inside it feels as though you're working incredibly hard.  Then you get to the end of the week and realise that you've hardly touched the work that matters most to you.  KEY TAKEAWAYS Being busy is not the same as moving your creative practice forward. The work that keeps you occupied is often the very thing that keeps you from actually creating. Avoidance rarely looks like procrastination - it looks like responsibility. Admin, teaching, and helping other people all feel productive, which is exactly why they are so effective at pulling you away from the uncertainty of making your own work.  Your brain is not trying to sabotage your practice – it is trying to reduce discomfort. Every time you choose certainty over uncertainty, you reinforce the habit of stepping away just as the work starts asking something of you.  Creative confidence is not built by making uncertainty disappear. It is built by learning how to stay with it long enough for the work to emerge. BEST MOMENTS “She wasn't wasting time. Quite the opposite. Then I asked her how much time she'd actually spent making her own work, and there was a long pause, and she said, hardly any.” “Teaching gave her certainty. The studio gave her uncertainty, and without realising it, she'd slowly started choosing certainty over uncertainty, again and again.” “What I don't think helps is piling more pressure on.” HOST BIO With over 35 years in the art world, Ceri has worked closely with leading artists and arts professionals, managed public and private galleries and charities, and curated more than 250 exhibitions and events. She has sold artworks to major museums and private collectors and commissioned thousands of works across diverse media, from renowned artists such as John Akomfrah, Pipilotti Rist, Rafael Lozano-Hemmer and Vito Acconci. Now, she wants to share her extensive knowledge with you, so you can excel and achieve your goals. ** Ceri Hand Coaching Membership: Group coaching, live art surgeries, exclusive masterclasses, portfolio reviews, weekly challenges. Access our library of content and resource hub anytime and enjoy special discounts within a vibrant community of peers and professionals. Ready to transform your art career? Join today! https://cerihand.com/membership/ ** Unlock Your Artworld Network Self Study Course Our self-study video course, "Unlock Your Artworld Network," offers a straightforward 5-step framework to help you build valuable relationships effortlessly. Gain the tools and confidence you need to create new opportunities and thrive in the art world today. https://cerihand.com/courses/unlock_your_artworld_network/ ** Book a Discovery Call Today To schedule a personalised 1-2-1 coaching session with Ceri or explore our group coaching options, simply email us at hello@cerihand.com ** Discover Your Extraordinary Creativity Visit www.cerihand.com to learn how we can help you become an extraordinary creative. This Podcast has been brought to you by Disruptive Media. https://disruptivemedia.co.uk/
• 
  Your Creative Work Matters and You Have The Talent To Bring It To Life with Ela Thier 02.08.2026 1godz 9min

  We're told that creative talent is something you either have or you don't. Ela Thier has spent nearly 40 years disproving this crippling myth. A New York–based writer, director, actor, and founding director of The Independent Film School, she’s helped more than 65,000 artists find and develop their voices. Her films include Tomorrow Ever After, Foreign Letters, and her latest, 109 Billion Followers, stars Oscar-winner J.K. Simmons. In this conversation, we trace Ella’s journey from being her mother’s “wild weed” - a third child raised with very little supervision and a lot of imagination, through quitting filmmaking for almost a decade, to returning with a completely different relationship to her work.  We talk about the difference between writing as therapy and writing as a gift, why craft is learnable, and why Ella believes talent is simply the courage to be fully yourself. She shares how she keeps “the rent and the real work” in two separate hands, and the cast of inner voices who appear in her book How to Fail as an Artist: My Best Tips - from Mr. Stop, whose only job is to talk her out of it, to the 120-year-old version of herself she writes to when she loses her nerve. If you’ve ever stood at the edge of giving up on your work - or you’re standing there right now - this one’s for you. KEY TAKEAWAYS The story many of us carry is that our work is a private indulgence, a side‑note nobody’s waiting for. You may never see the life it touches, but you are not creating into a void. Make the film, the painting, the book as if it already matters to someone, somewhere - because it does.  Your audience is not a panel of judges to impress, but the people you are taking care of. The shift is from asking whether they will approve of you, to asking what they need and making the work from there. Keep the rent and the real work in separate hands - asking your art to also pay the bills is a reliable way to do neither well. BEST MOMENTS “Ela … has made peace with failure without ever making peace with quitting.” “Craft is learnable, the writer or the filmmaker is already in there, and that talent is simply the courage to be fully yourself on the page·” “The book gave me, and gives people, permission to just mess around, which is where our best work comes from.” EPISODE RESOURCES https://theindependentfilmschool.com https://www.instagram.com/elathier HOST BIO With over 35 years in the art world, Ceri has worked closely with leading artists and arts professionals, managed public and private galleries and charities, and curated more than 250 exhibitions and events. She has sold artworks to major museums and private collectors and commissioned thousands of works across diverse media, from renowned artists such as John Akomfrah, Pipilotti Rist, Rafael Lozano-Hemmer and Vito Acconci. Now, she wants to share her extensive knowledge with you, so you can excel and achieve your goals. **** Ceri Hand Coaching Membership: Group coaching, live art surgeries, exclusive masterclasses, portfolio reviews, weekly challenges. Access our library of content and resource hub anytime and enjoy special discounts within a vibrant community of peers and professionals. Ready to transform your art career? Join today! https://cerihand.com/membership/ **** Unlock Your Artworld Network Self Study Course Our self-study video course, "Unlock Your Artworld Network," offers a straightforward 5-step framework to help you build valuable relationships effortlessly. Gain the tools and confidence you need to create new opportunities and thrive in the art world today. https://cerihand.com/courses/unlock_your_artworld_network/ **** Book a Discovery Call Today To schedule a personalised 1-2-1 coaching session with Ceri or explore our group coaching options, simply email us at hello@cerihand.com **** Discover Your Extraordinary Creativity Visit www.cerihand.com to learn how we can help you become an extraordinary creative. This Podcast has been brought to you by Disruptive Media. https://disruptivemedia.co.uk/
• 
  Inside the Art Surgery - Thirty Minutes, Real Questions, Honest Answers 29.07.2026 42min

  Every week inside the membership, artists send in their questions. Career challenges, pricing dilemmas, difficult clients, creative blocks, gallery relationships, commission nightmares, confidence crises. Ceri works through them live, unfiltered and at pace, with more questions landing in real time from the room. The result is one of the most popular sessions inside the membership. Fast, direct, occasionally sweary, and completely honest. No script. No softening. Just Ceri answering whatever artists are actually grappling with right now. It has yet to be proven that there is a question she cannot answer. This episode gives you a taste of what happens inside the Art Surgery every week. If you want the full session, the full archive, and the chance to bring your own question live, the membership is where it all happens. Join our Membership at - https://cerihand.com/membership/ KEY TAKEAWAYS Admin expands to fill whatever time you give it. Every email feels urgent. Almost none of it is. Batch it all into one admin day and protect the rest of the week for the work that actually matters. When anxiety spikes, “spray and pray” feels like action – but it isn’t. Instead of firing off panicked applications, start by calming your anxiety, telling your brain nothing’s gone wrong, so you can act from a calmer, more intentional place. One artwork can live many lives – One piece can quietly work for you all year, let it travel. That film or artwork can stay as a full piece or elements of it can be used for clips, newsletters, embeds on other people’s sites and more. Selectors aren’t hunting for perfect work. Most submissions are good. The ones that get remembered feel inevitable and alive – like the idea and the medium have clicked so well the work couldn’t exist any other way. BEST MOMENTS “Rather than am I right for it? The question is - Is the work right for it? Would your work come alive in that context?” “We have to carve out the day to make ourselves the most clear-minded thinkers and makers. We have to give our time to that bit that only we can do.” “Don't do that little garden studio down because actually there will be absolute gold in there, and you want people to access it.” “We have to remind our brain that our creativity is fundamental to who we are, to everything we do … if we're not regulated. We can't do good stuff in the world.” PODCAST HOST BIO With over 35 years in the art world, Ceri has worked closely with leading artists and arts professionals, managed public and private galleries and charities, and curated more than 250 exhibitions and events. She has sold artworks to major museums and private collectors and commissioned thousands of works across diverse media, from renowned artists such as John Akomfrah, Pipilotti Rist, Rafael Lozano-Hemmer and Vito Acconci. Now, she wants to share her extensive knowledge with you, so you can excel and achieve your goals. **** Ceri Hand Coaching Membership: Group coaching, live art surgeries, exclusive masterclasses, portfolio reviews, weekly challenges. Access our library of content and resource hub anytime and enjoy special discounts within a vibrant community of peers and professionals. Ready to transform your art career? Join today! https://cerihand.com/membership/ **** Unlock Your Artworld Network Self Study Course Our self-study video course, "Unlock Your Artworld Network," offers a straightforward 5-step framework to help you build valuable relationships effortlessly. Gain the tools and confidence you need to create new opportunities and thrive in the art world today. https://cerihand.com/courses/unlock_your_artworld_network/ **** Book a Discovery Call Today To schedule a personalised 1-2-1 coaching session with Ceri or explore our group coaching options, simply email us at hello@cerihand.com **** Discover Your Extraordinary Creativity Visit www.cerihand.com to learn how we can help you become an extraordinary creative. This Podcast has been brought to you by Disruptive Media. https://disruptivemedia.co.uk/
• 
  Fast Robots, Slow Clocks: How To Design Art That Lasts Beyond Your Lifetime with Zander Rose 26.07.2026 1godz 47min

  Somewhere inside a mountain in the West Texas desert, a clock is being built to keep time for ten thousand years. All mechanical. Wound by whoever makes the day-long hike to reach it. Designed so it´s chimes never ring the same sequence twice. Zander Rose has spent nearly thirty years building it. He grew up in a junkyard on the Sausalito waterfront – boat builders, artists, an activist mother who went on to become mayor, and a flea market every Sunday where he and his father took machines apart to see how they worked. Before the clock he was making combat robots that won six world titles, fast machines built to win in seconds. Then he gave half his working life to the slowest object on earth. What he’s really after isn’t the engineering. It’s a question I keep coming back to: Are we being good ancestors – and what would we build differently if we believed the future was watching? In this conversation we get into where that question came from, what it’s like to design for someone who won’t be born for thousands of years, and what the world’s oldest organisations – a hotel run by the same family since the eighth century, temples older than most nations – know about lasting that the rest of us have forgotten. It will leave you thinking about being a good ancestor and building things to last. KEY TAKEAWAYS Trust the future. Build it room to think. Don’t take options away from the people who come after you. The forest you don’t cut down, the river you keep, the law written simply enough that the next generation can reinterpret it – that’s the work. The conditions you grow up in aren’t just backstory, they’re training. A junkyard, a boatyard, a poor area – these aren’t obstacles to a creative life, they’re live laboratories. The places you learned to improvise quietly decide what feels possible to you now. Competition doesn’t have to mean scarcity or shame. Other people’s excellence can become raw material for your own growth, not evidence that you should stop. BEST MOMENTS “Look at what you're making this week and ask who it's really for. Then ask whether you're adding options to the world, or quietly removing them.” “Trust the future. Build it room to think.” “I was only interested in building something that was the first of its kind. I had zero interest in building another one of anything.” “Fail fast is definitely the fastest way to learn.” EPISODE RESOURCES https://rosefutures.com https://longnow.org HOST BIO With over 35 years in the art world, Ceri has worked closely with leading artists and arts professionals, managed public and private galleries and charities, and curated more than 250 exhibitions and events. She has sold artworks to major museums and private collectors and commissioned thousands of works across diverse media, from renowned artists such as John Akomfrah, Pipilotti Rist, Rafael Lozano-Hemmer and Vito Acconci. Now, she wants to share her extensive knowledge with you, so you can excel and achieve your goals. ** Ceri Hand Coaching Membership: Group coaching, live art surgeries, exclusive masterclasses, portfolio reviews, weekly challenges. Access our library of content and resource hub anytime and enjoy special discounts within a vibrant community of peers and professionals. Ready to transform your art career? https://cerihand.com/membership/ ** Unlock Your Artworld Network Self Study Course Our self-study video course, "Unlock Your Artworld Network," offers a straightforward 5-step framework to help you build valuable relationships effortlessly. Gain the tools and confidence you need to create new opportunities and thrive in the art world today. https://cerihand.com/courses/unlock_your_artworld_network/ ** Book a Discovery Call To schedule a personalised 1-2-1 coaching session with Ceri or explore our group coaching options, simply email us at hello@cerihand.com ** Discover Your Extraordinary Creativity Visit www.cerihand.com to learn how we can help you become an extraordinary creative. This Podcast has been brought to you by Disruptive Media. https://disruptivemedia.co.uk/
• 
  Public Art: The Four Questions Every Artist Must Answer 22.07.2026 26min

  I'm Ceri Hand, and this is Extraordinary Creatives. Thirty-five years in the contemporary art world as a gallerist, curator, commissioner of public art, institutional director, and now coaching artists and creative leaders worldwide to make a bigger impact and earn more money doing what they love. Over the last eight weeks, we've built a complete commissioning practice together. We've looked at the mindset, the five signatures of under-pricing, the commission ecosystem, the inquiry filter, the chemistry call, the alignment document, paid concept development, the production agreement, managing the making, the delivery, the legacy package. What public art is, the roles you can play, and what changes when the commission is this big. So, today we're going to cover three things, and then I'm going to leave you with the one sentence that I hope you carry out of the whole series. KEY TAKEAWAYS Build your scaffold once, then run every commission through it. The artist who thrives isn’t winging it each time; they’ve got a clear structure on the studio wall - they have stopped rebuilding the system from scratch for every new brief.  Run every commission through joy, safety and income filters before you say yes. When those filters are true to you and your practice they alert you early to commissions that look good on paper but still not right for you. Preserving your capacity for work that is truly yours. BEST MOMENTS “Saying no to a commission that doesn't pass the filters is not lost income, it's preserved capacity; every no protects the yes you're truly waiting for.” “Built once, used again and again. The artist who thrives has built the scaffold once and now runs their commission practice through it calmly, profitably, without drama.” “A process without the willingness to say no is just admin. It looks good on your website, does nothing for your life.” “The artist who wins commissions isn’t the most talented. The artist who wins commissions is the one who makes it easy to say yes, makes it safe to trust them, and never starts from scratch.” Want grounded, art‑world‑tested guidance each week? Join my free Beat the Block newsletter and put this commissioning scaffold to work in your own practice by going to https://cerihand.com/subscribe/ EPISODE RESOURCES Pollinator Pathmaker  episode - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/making-ambitious-work-is-never-just-about-ideas-with/id1709105337?i=1000753927961&l=zh-Hans-CN PODCAST HOST BIO With over 35 years in the art world, Ceri has worked closely with leading artists and arts professionals, managed public and private galleries and charities, and curated more than 250 exhibitions and events. She has sold artworks to major museums and private collectors and commissioned thousands of works across diverse media, from renowned artists such as John Akomfrah, Pipilotti Rist, Rafael Lozano-Hemmer and Vito Acconci. Now, she wants to share her extensive knowledge with you, so you can excel and achieve your goals. **** Ceri Hand Coaching Membership: Group coaching, live art surgeries, exclusive masterclasses, portfolio reviews, weekly challenges. Access our library of content and resource hub anytime and enjoy special discounts within a vibrant community of peers and professionals. Ready to transform your art career? Join today! https://cerihand.com/membership/ **** Unlock Your Artworld Network Self Study Course Our self-study video course, "Unlock Your Artworld Network," offers a straightforward 5-step framework to help you build valuable relationships effortlessly. Gain the tools and confidence you need to create new opportunities and thrive in the art world today. https://cerihand.com/courses/unlock_your_artworld_network/ **** Book a Discovery Call Today To schedule a personalised 1-2-1 coaching session with Ceri or explore our group coaching options, simply email us at hello@cerihand.com **** Discover Your Extraordinary Creativity Visit www.cerihand.com to learn how we can help you become an extraordinary creative. This Podcast has been brought to you by Disruptive Media. https://disruptivemedia.co.uk/
• 
  Late Starts, Long Breaks: A Survival Guide to the Art World with Hettie Judah 19.07.2026 1godz 21min

  The art world runs on storytelling. The story of the artwork. The story of the artist. And one of the most seductive stories of all, the one that says if you got your toe over the line out of art school, your career goes onwards and upwards from there in a straight line. My guest today, Hettie Judah, has been inside the art world since the early 1990s, as a writer, critic, curator and advocate. And she has written a book that quietly dismantles that story. How to Enter the Art World… After a late start, a first career, illness, raising children, a crisis of confidence, leaving it in disgust… In this conversation, Hettie shares how the art world's myths are really costing the people inside it, why the relationships that move careers are built in quiet galleries rather than at private views, and what the financial reality of a successful writing and curating life actually looks like. You will leave with a sharper read on the structures around your practice, and permission to stop measuring yourself against a career shape that was never real in the first place. KEY TAKEAWAYS The art world tells a particular story about itself - A linear career. A clean upward arc. The right schools, the right shows, the right age. And if you didn't get on that track, or you stepped off it, maybe to have children or it was never offered to you in the first place, the story says you missed your window. Hettie demonstrates that is not true. If you are coming back to your practice, or finding your way in for the first time, or rebuilding after a long stretch away, take this as the invitation. Not to enter someone else's version of the art world. To build the one that holds your work. Often creative labour is quietly self‑subsidised so the rest of us can have the books and conversations we need – think a £150 fee for an event, from which the writer or artist still has to cover train fares and providing their own books. BEST MOMENTS “You can construct the art world you want to be part of …. the structures around artists can be changed.” “We all need one another…. we all learn from the questions that other people ask.” “I really wanted the book to feel like you were having a conversation with a friend.” “I remember them (art works) with my body as well as my mind's eye. I remember them so strongly.” EPISODE RESOURCES https://apollo-magazine.com/author/hettie-judah https://www.instagram.com/hettiejudah/ Hettie´s books - https://www.amazon.co.uk/stores/Hettie-Judah/author/B00E9ZRESS HOST BIO With over 35 years in the art world, Ceri has worked closely with leading artists and arts professionals, managed public and private galleries and charities, and curated more than 250 exhibitions and events. She has sold artworks to major museums and private collectors and commissioned thousands of works across diverse media, from renowned artists such as John Akomfrah, Pipilotti Rist, Rafael Lozano-Hemmer and Vito Acconci. Now, she wants to share her extensive knowledge with you, so you can excel and achieve your goals. ** Ceri Hand Coaching Membership: Group coaching, live art surgeries, exclusive masterclasses, portfolio reviews, weekly challenges. Access our library of content and resource hub anytime and enjoy special discounts within a vibrant community of peers and professionals. Ready to transform your art career? Join today! https://cerihand.com/membership/ ** Unlock Your Artworld Network Self Study Course Our self-study video course, "Unlock Your Artworld Network," offers a straightforward 5-step framework to help you build valuable relationships effortlessly. Gain the tools and confidence you need to create new opportunities and thrive in the art world today. https://cerihand.com/courses/unlock_your_artworld_network/ ** Book a Discovery Call Today To schedule a personalised 1-2-1 coaching session with Ceri or explore our group coaching options, simply email us at hello@cerihand.com This Podcast has been brought to you by Disruptive Media. https://disruptivemedia.co.uk/
• 
  Why Most Artists Lose Money On Their First Public Art Commission (Part 8 of 9) 16.07.2026 17min

  Artists – most of you who take your first public art commission lose money on it. Not because the budget was bad, but because nobody told you a public commission is not a bigger version of a private one. It is a different job, with a different shape, and the work that does not appear in the brief – procurement, contracts, maintenance, stakeholder hours – is what quietly eats your fee. By the time you realise what you have signed up for, you are eighteen months in, with years still to run, and no honest way out. Here is what I want to give you today: the six things that genuinely change when you step from a private commission into a public one; the hidden costs inside the budget that almost no commissioner spells out, and that you have to know to ask about; and the support structure you need around you before you accept the commission, not after, because by then it is too late. This is for artists invited to apply for their first public commission, and for artists already inside one who can feel the ground shifting and have not yet been able to name what is happening. This episode is part eight of a nine-part series on commissions. Last week we covered what public art is, the five reasons it gets commissioned, and the six roles an artist might play inside a public commission. If you have not heard that one, it sets the foundation for today, so start here - https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/the-six-roles-artists-get-hired-for-in-public-art/id1709105337?i=1000776044291 KEY TAKEAWAYS Public art is not just a bigger version of what you already do – it is a different job, with different time scales, different power dynamics, and a different kind of authorship you step into for decades, not months.   The number in the brief is never just “your fee” – it has to cover engineers, fabricators, insurance, installation, maintenance planning, everyone’s professional time. If it does not, you will be the one underwriting the project with your labour.   Build a small, smart infrastructure around yourself, so you can hold the integrity of the work through years of stakeholders, contracts, and weather, without burning out.   BEST MOMENTS “Read the brief, do what the brief asks, no more, no less.”   “Public commission budgets sound large and often aren't by the time you have to account for everything they have to cover.”   “You'll need public liability insurance, often at significant levels of cover.” EPISODE RESOURCES Episode 7 of commission series – https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/the-six-roles-artists-get-hired-for-in-public-art/id1709105337?i=1000776044291 HOST BIO With over 35 years in the art world, Ceri has worked closely with leading artists and arts professionals, managed public and private galleries and charities, and curated more than 250 exhibitions and events. She has sold artworks to major museums and private collectors and commissioned thousands of works across diverse media, from renowned artists such as John Akomfrah, Pipilotti Rist, Rafael Lozano-Hemmer and Vito Acconci. Now, she wants to share her extensive knowledge with you, so you can excel and achieve your goals. ** Ceri Hand Coaching Membership: Group coaching, live art surgeries, exclusive masterclasses, portfolio reviews, weekly challenges. Access our library of content and resource hub anytime and enjoy special discounts within a vibrant community of peers and professionals. Ready to transform your art career? Join today! https://cerihand.com/membership/ ** Unlock Your Artworld Network Self Study Course Our self-study video course, "Unlock Your Artworld Network," offers a straightforward 5-step framework to help you build valuable relationships effortlessly. Gain the tools and confidence you need to create new opportunities and thrive in the art world today. https://cerihand.com/courses/unlock_your_artworld_network/ ** Book a Discovery Call Today To schedule a personalised 1-2-1 coaching session with Ceri or explore our group coaching options, simply email us at hello@cerihand.com ** Discover Your Extraordinary Creativity Visit www.cerihand.com to learn how we can help you become an extraordinary creative. This Podcast has been brought to you by Disruptive Media. https://disruptivemedia.co.uk/
• 
  We Move Through Scales of Blue: Making Art That Holds More Than One Truth with Phoebe Boswell 13.07.2026 1godz 22min

  Ninety-six per cent of Black British adults don’t swim regularly. That's the statistic from the Black Swimming Association that my guest came across while she was deep in research about bodies of water / about what they hold, what they absorb, what they promise. Phoebe Boswell is a Kenyan-British artist whose work has been shown at the Venice Biennale and in major institutions and collections worldwide. In this conversation, Phoebe talks about her latest large-scale commission for Art on the Underground, we move through scales of blue, now running alongside the escalators at Notting Hill Gate and Bethnal Green subway stations in London. She shares how she works with communities without extracting from them, why she stopped painting for twenty years and what brought her back, and what she has come to understand about figuration, freedom and the responsibility that comes with the work. You will leave with a deeper sense of what it means to make work that holds rupture and joy at the same time - and the courage it takes not to resolve them. KEY TAKEAWAYS Phoebe holds two things at once - A figurative practice that she describes as lovemaking - a sustained attention to the body, particularly the Black female body, as a way of truly seeing. And alongside it, a refusal to stay in the language of identity alone. Making work that holds rupture and joy at the same time isn’t a flaw to be fixed. It’s a way of working: that stays true to pain, history and politics while refusing to let go of tenderness, nuance, and beauty. Phoebe’s approach to figuration, community and public space asks us to think more deeply about how we see who we work with. What we owe the people in and around our work, not just as subjects or audiences, but as co-holders of meaning. BEST MOMENTS “Art became a way of coming back to myself… it was a process of trying to re-see the self that had been kind of shattered. It was proclaiming myself, reminding myself that I’m still here.” “Art is this place for me to sense, to taste, or to test the borders of my own truth in a way that I don't think is always possible in real life. I think you go through seasons.” “Trust the porous borders between your projects. To return to what you left, changed. And to keep making work that is for the people in it, before it is for anyone else.” “I don't want to be free off the back of anyone else.” EPISODE RESOURCES https://www.phoebeboswell.com/ https://www.instagram.com/phoebe.boswell/ HOST BIO With over 35 years in the art world, Ceri has worked closely with leading artists and arts professionals, managed public and private galleries and charities, and curated more than 250 exhibitions and events. She has sold artworks to major museums and private collectors and commissioned thousands of works across diverse media, from renowned artists such as John Akomfrah, Pipilotti Rist, Rafael Lozano-Hemmer and Vito Acconci. Now, she wants to share her extensive knowledge with you, so you can excel and achieve your goals. ** Ceri Hand Coaching Membership: Group coaching, live art surgeries, exclusive masterclasses, portfolio reviews, weekly challenges. Access our library of content and resource hub anytime and enjoy special discounts within a vibrant community of peers and professionals. Ready to transform your art career? Join today! https://cerihand.com/membership/ ** Unlock Your Artworld Network Self Study Course Our self-study video course, "Unlock Your Artworld Network," offers a straightforward 5-step framework to help you build valuable relationships effortlessly. Gain the tools and confidence you need to create new opportunities and thrive in the art world today. https://cerihand.com/courses/unlock_your_artworld_network/ ** Book a Discovery Call Today To schedule a personalised 1-2-1 coaching session with Ceri or explore our group coaching options, simply email us at hello@cerihand.com ** Discover Your Extraordinary Creativity Visit www.cerihand.com to learn how we can help you become an extraordinary creative. This Podcast has been brought to you by Disruptive Media. https://disruptivemedia.co.uk/
• 
  The Six Roles Artists Get Hired For In Public Art (Most Don't Realise They Have A Choice) - Commissions Series, Part 7 of 9 09.07.2026 14min

  Artists if you've ever been invited into a public art commission, here's the thing nobody tells you. Most of you assume you've been asked to make a single artwork. A sculpture, an installation, a piece. You usually haven't. There are six different roles you might be playing inside that project, and getting the wrong one means you've quietly accepted a job you didn't sign up for. Worse hours. Different fee structure. Different scope. The same brief, with you doing the wrong work inside it. This is the most expensive mistake that artists make in public art. And almost nobody is told the roles even exist. Here’s what I want to give you today: the five main reasons public art gets commissioned, the six roles’ artists are actually hired to play and how to recognise which one you’ve been invited into), and one question to ask any prospective commissioner that reveals in 30 seconds whether they’ve properly scoped the project or are asking you to finish their thinking as well as the work. This is for artists curious about public art who haven’t yet made the move, and for those already working in it who’ve felt a commission go quietly wrong without knowing why. This episode is part seven of a nine-part series on commissions. The first six cover everything from mindset and pricing through to the legacy package - the foundations you need before you take a single enquiry into public art. If you haven’t done so yet, hit follow so you don’t miss an episode. KEY TAKEAWAYS Understand which role you've been invited to at the start of the conversation. Ask yourself which of those five commission types is closest to what you make already and how you work - that tells you which kind of public commission to be looking for. If you’re new to public art, treat temporary and meanwhile work as laboratories. They’re lower risk for commissioners, and they let you test how your practice behaves in public BEST MOMENTS “Done well, a single public commission can shift the trajectory of an entire practice. Done badly, it can swallow two years of your life and leave you broke, exhausted, and quietly furious.” “Sometimes it's worth recognising you might not be able to be all things in public art.” EPISODE RESOURCES 1st episode in series - https://open.spotify.com/episode/3GoxWpKkkdZQE9pvvrGSNt HOST BIO With over 35 years in the art world, Ceri has worked closely with leading artists and arts professionals, managed public and private galleries and charities, and curated more than 250 exhibitions and events. She has sold artworks to major museums and private collectors and commissioned thousands of works across diverse media, from renowned artists such as John Akomfrah, Pipilotti Rist, Rafael Lozano-Hemmer and Vito Acconci. Now, she wants to share her extensive knowledge with you, so you can excel and achieve your goals. ** Ceri Hand Coaching Membership: Group coaching, live art surgeries, exclusive masterclasses, portfolio reviews, weekly challenges. Access our library of content and resource hub anytime and enjoy special discounts within a vibrant community of peers and professionals. Ready to transform your art career? Join today! https://cerihand.com/membership/ ** Unlock Your Artworld Network Self Study Course Our self-study video course, "Unlock Your Artworld Network," offers a straightforward 5-step framework to help you build valuable relationships effortlessly. Gain the tools and confidence you need to create new opportunities and thrive in the art world today. https://cerihand.com/courses/unlock_your_artworld_network/ ** Book a Discovery Call Today To schedule a personalised 1-2-1 coaching session with Ceri or explore our group coaching options, simply email us at hello@cerihand.com ** Discover Your Extraordinary Creativity Visit www.cerihand.com to learn how we can help you become an extraordinary creative. This Podcast has been brought to you by Disruptive Media. https://disruptivemedia.co.uk/
• 
  Building a Sustainable Truly Creative Practice Without Selling Out - with Luke Jerram 06.07.2026 1godz 15min

  Imagine setting fire to half your art budget before lunchtime. Seven hot air balloons grounded in a field. Fourteen speakers. The Birmingham Symphony Orchestra waiting to be paid. And a city council expecting you to reach a hundred thousand people by the end of the week. That is the kind of corner Luke Jerram has found himself in. And it is also the corner that produced Play Me, I'm Yours - pianos in the street for anyone to play. Two thousand of them. Seventy cities. Welcome to Extraordinary Creatives. I'm Ceri Hand. Follow the show so episodes like this land in your feed every week. Luke Jerram is the artist behind Museum of the Moon, Gaia, Helios, Park and Slide, Sky Orchestra, and Glass Microbiology. His work has been seen by tens of millions of people. Close to a thousand exhibitions across forty countries. Pieces held in over eighty permanent collections, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam, and the Wellcome Collection in London. And he has built all of this from a studio in Bristol, with a team around him, without gallery representation. In this conversation you will hear how he funds projects nobody has made before, why he turned down Red Bull and Coca-Cola, and what he calls stamina of dissatisfaction - the last five percent that lifts a piece from good enough to worthy of people's attention. I hope you find this as inspiring as I did. KEY TAKEAWAYS Most artists make a piece, show it once, and move on. Luke lives with a piece across a hundred installations and refines it. That last 5% of refinement makes the work land, turns it into something enduring that funds the next project and the next. Being an artist is a marathon, not a sprint. A diverse practice takes longer to build. But that willingness to keep reinventing yourself creates adaptability. Don´t underestimate your ability to solve problems and learn from failure. It´s up to us to decide on the rules we play by. BEST MOMENTS “I like creating artworks that leave space for other people to be creative.” “If you knew you had to be rejected 100 times before you were a millionaire, you'd be really excited to get your first rejection, wouldn't you?” “There's no such thing as luck. You've got to be ready … when the phone call comes … make it easy for them to say yes.” For the text version of the topics, we cover each week in the Beat the Block Shorty episodes, straight to your inbox, head to http://cerihand.com/subscribe. RESOURCES https://www.lukejerram.com https://www.instagram.com/lukejerramartist HOST BIO With over 35 years in the art world, Ceri has worked closely with leading artists and arts professionals, managed public and private galleries and charities, and curated more than 250 exhibitions and events. She has sold artworks to major museums and private collectors and commissioned thousands of works across diverse media, from renowned artists such as John Akomfrah, Pipilotti Rist, Rafael Lozano-Hemmer and Vito Acconci. Now, she wants to share her extensive knowledge with you, so you can excel and achieve your goals. Ceri Hand Coaching Membership: Group coaching, live art surgeries, exclusive masterclasses, portfolio reviews, weekly challenges. Access our library of content and resource hub anytime and enjoy special discounts within a vibrant community of peers and professionals. Ready to transform your art career? Join today! https://cerihand.com/membership/ Unlock Your Artworld Network Self Study Course Our self-study video course, "Unlock Your Artworld Network," offers a straightforward 5-step framework to help you build valuable relationships effortlessly. Gain the tools and confidence you need to create new opportunities and thrive in the art world today. https://cerihand.com/courses/unlock_your_artworld_network/ Book a Discovery Call Today To schedule a personalised 1-2-1 coaching session with Ceri or explore our group coaching options, simply email us at hello@cerihand.com This Podcast has been brought to you by Disruptive Media. https://disruptivemedia.co.uk/
• 
  How To Stop Commissions Eating Your Profit (Part 6 of 9) 02.07.2026 15min

  Artists — if you take commissions, here's the number that should frighten you. Scope drift, the polite, gradual expansion of a commission beyond what you agreed, eats twenty to thirty per cent of the original fee in unpaid work on most commissions I see. That isn't a margin problem. That's your profit. Gone. On every job. And it isn't because you did bad work. It's because nobody taught you how to manage what happens after the deposit lands. This episode is part six of a nine-part series on commissions — how to prepare for them, respond to them, deliver them, and stop them burning you out. If you haven't followed the podcast yet, hit follow so you don't miss an episode. Today we cover three stages. Managing the making - which is where most commissions go wrong, and almost never for the reason artists think. Delivery and the story of the work — the bit that quietly funds the next commission if you do it right. And the legacy package — the stage almost every artist skips, and the single most commercially valuable thing you can build into your practice. KEY TAKEAWAYS Once the deposit lands, you’re managing 2 things: the work and the client’s psychology. Build in named updates and review points so they feel heard, without turning the project into an open invitation for endless tweaks. Treat the legacy package as your quiet sales engine. A simple bundle—certificate, process images, care instructions, and a short narrative, turns a buyer into a custodian. Custodians come back, commission again, and quietly introduce you to your next three clients. Ceri´s tried and tested but simple 11‑stage process means you stop rebuilding your practice from scratch for every enquiry. Instead, you run each commission through the same calm, repeatable structure. BEST MOMENTS “Scope drift … eats 20 to 30 per cent of the original fee in unpaid work on most commissions I see. That isn't a margin problem. That's your profit. Gone.” "Saying no to a commission that doesn't pass the filters is not lost income, it's preserved capacity." You can get a text version of today's episode plus new practical guidance every week if you subscribe to my Beat The Block newsletter – Access it here - https://cerihand.com/subscribe/ EPISODE RESOURCES First episode of 9-part series - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/designing-the-way-you-want-to-work-the-mindset/id1709105337?i=1000769915059 PODCAST HOST BIO With over 35 years in the art world, Ceri has worked closely with leading artists and arts professionals, managed public and private galleries and charities, and curated more than 250 exhibitions and events. She has sold artworks to major museums and private collectors and commissioned thousands of works across diverse media, from renowned artists such as John Akomfrah, Pipilotti Rist, Rafael Lozano-Hemmer and Vito Acconci. Now, she wants to share her extensive knowledge with you, so you can excel and achieve your goals. **** Ceri Hand Coaching Membership: Group coaching, live art surgeries, exclusive masterclasses, portfolio reviews, weekly challenges. Access our library of content and resource hub anytime and enjoy special discounts within a vibrant community of peers and professionals. Ready to transform your art career? Join today! https://cerihand.com/membership/ **** Unlock Your Artworld Network Self Study Course Our self-study video course, "Unlock Your Artworld Network," offers a straightforward 5-step framework to help you build valuable relationships effortlessly. Gain the tools and confidence you need to create new opportunities and thrive in the art world today. https://cerihand.com/courses/unlock_your_artworld_network/ **** Book a Discovery Call Today To schedule a personalised 1-2-1 coaching session with Ceri or explore our group coaching options, simply email us at hello@cerihand.com **** Discover Your Extraordinary Creativity Visit www.cerihand.com to learn how we can help you become an extraordinary creative. This Podcast has been brought to you by Disruptive Media. https://disruptivemedia.co.uk/
• 
  The Work That Lasts Speaks To What Is Stuck, Not What Is Comfortable with Lucia Pietroiusti 29.06.2026 2godz 2min

  The art that stays with you isn't the art that pleases you. It's the art that names the thing stuck at the back of your throat — the one you couldn't quite say out loud — and then makes it real. That's Lucia Pietroiusti. Curator of the Golden Lion-winning Sun & Sea, Head of Research & Emergence at the new Hartwig Museum in Amsterdam and Curator of The 2027 Autostrada Biennale. In this conversation, we get into why the works that last speak to the body before the mind, and what it really takes to hold space for art that risks making people uncomfortable. We talk about ideas behaving like people, about institutions learning to hold a piece of an artist's life rather than commissioning a piece of their work, and about being tethered and free at the same time. I hope you enjoy this conversation as much as I did. KEY TAKEAWAYS The artworks that stay with us often bypass explanation. They reach "something stuck at the back of your throat" before the intellect catches up, reminding us that feeling can be a form of knowledge. Meaning isn't delivered by the artist and received by the audience. It emerges in the space between them. The work offers coordinates, not conclusions - people find their own way through. Art creates meaning, connection, and transformation in ways that go beyond language. The most powerful art isn't the art that explains the world. It creates the conditions for people to feel, experience, and discover something they couldn't quite access before. Trust intuition, trust audiences, trust long-term relationships, and trust that meaningful work often emerges from uncertainty rather than certainty. BEST MOMENTS "An artwork that stands the test of time is one that speaks not to your mind, but to something that's stuck at the back of your throat. And in a sense allows you to release that." “There´s the sort of belly register - the heart, the body register, then there's the brain register, all of it working together…you're not over-emphasizing that it has to be understood intellectually first.” “Ideas behave like people - they need rooms to move through, and time to become whatever they are going to become.” EPISODE RESOURCES https://www.instagram.com/luciapietroiusti_/ https://luciapietroiusti.earth/ PODCAST HOST BIO With over 35 years in the art world, Ceri has worked closely with leading artists and arts professionals, managed public and private galleries and charities, and curated more than 250 exhibitions and events. She has sold artworks to major museums and private collectors and commissioned thousands of works across diverse media, from renowned artists such as John Akomfrah, Pipilotti Rist, Rafael Lozano-Hemmer and Vito Acconci. Now, she wants to share her extensive knowledge with you, so you can excel and achieve your goals. **** Ceri Hand Coaching Membership: Group coaching, live art surgeries, exclusive masterclasses, portfolio reviews, weekly challenges. Access our library of content and resource hub anytime and enjoy special discounts within a vibrant community of peers and professionals. Ready to transform your art career? Join today! https://cerihand.com/membership/ **** Unlock Your Artworld Network Self Study Course Our self-study video course, "Unlock Your Artworld Network," offers a straightforward 5-step framework to help you build valuable relationships effortlessly. Gain the tools and confidence you need to create new opportunities and thrive in the art world today. https://cerihand.com/courses/unlock_your_artworld_network/ **** Book a Discovery Call Today To schedule a personalised 1-2-1 coaching session with Ceri or explore our group coaching options, simply email us at hello@cerihand.com **** Discover Your Extraordinary Creativity Visit www.cerihand.com to learn how we can help you become an extraordinary creative. This Podcast has been brought to you by Disruptive Media. https://disruptivemedia.co.uk/
• 
  Artists, Get Paid To Think Before You Get Paid To Make (part 5 of 9) 25.06.2026 12min

  This episode is part of a nine-part series on commissions. How to prepare for them, respond to them, deliver them, and, crucially, how to stop them burning you out. If you haven't followed the podcast yet, hit follow so you don't miss an episode. Today, episode 5 of 9 - If you only listen to one, I would ask that it be this one. Because I am going to tell you about the single biggest shift most artists can make in how they run commissions. It changes the economics. It changes the relationship. It changes how the client sees you. And it is still, astonishingly, the thing nearly every artist is not yet doing. It is called paid concept development. So, last week's episode. The enquiry filter told you this client was serious. The chemistry call confirmed they were a good fit. The alignment document came back confirmed, with minor amendments. The client is now saying, brilliant, love it, let's go. This is where most artists collapse. They work for free. Sometimes 5 hours. Sometimes 10. Sometimes, on larger commissions, 30 or 40 hours of unpaid concept work before a single £ is on the table. This is the shape of how artists lose weeks of unpaid labour every year. And most do not realise it is happening, because the work feels like normal commission behaviour. But it isn't. It is something an industry has normalised that is quietly killing its own practitioners. There is another way. KEY TAKEAWAYS Every industry where bespoke work is produced charges for concept work -architects, designers etc. It simply means the client is paying upfront for your thinking: visuals, materials, research, concept rationale, scale considerations. They keep that work whether or not they proceed. Paid concept development filters out the clients who were never going to commission anyway - before you've spent hours working for them. Once your proposal is accepted, move to a second, separate production agreement: final fee, a 50% deposit with a 30/20% payment schedule, named dates, fabrication details, and written responsibilities. No ambiguity, no loose ends. BEST MOMENTS "It's something an industry has normalised that is quietly killing its own practitioners." "You're not asking for something unusual, you're matching professional standards." "The 50% deposit is not optional. If a client pushes back on the deposit, that's information.” HOST BIO With over 35 years in the art world, Ceri has worked closely with leading artists and arts professionals, managed public and private galleries and charities, and curated more than 250 exhibitions and events. She has sold artworks to major museums and private collectors and commissioned thousands of works across diverse media, from renowned artists such as John Akomfrah, Pipilotti Rist, Rafael Lozano-Hemmer and Vito Acconci. Now, she wants to share her extensive knowledge with you, so you can excel and achieve your goals. ** Ceri Hand Coaching Membership: Group coaching, live art surgeries, exclusive masterclasses, portfolio reviews, weekly challenges. Access our library of content and resource hub anytime and enjoy special discounts within a vibrant community of peers and professionals. Ready to transform your art career? Join today! https://cerihand.com/membership/ ** Unlock Your Artworld Network Self Study Course Our self-study video course, "Unlock Your Artworld Network," offers a straightforward 5-step framework to help you build valuable relationships effortlessly. Gain the tools and confidence you need to create new opportunities and thrive in the art world today. https://cerihand.com/courses/unlock_your_artworld_network/ ** Book a Discovery Call Today To schedule a personalised 1-2-1 coaching session with Ceri or explore our group coaching options, simply email us at hello@cerihand.com ** Discover Your Extraordinary Creativity Visit www.cerihand.com to learn how we can help you become an extraordinary creative. This Podcast has been brought to you by Disruptive Media. https://disruptivemedia.co.uk/
• 
  Trust Discomfort As Part of Your Creative Language with Amartey Golding 22.06.2026 1godz 39min

  Amartey Golding makes chainmail sculptures that are seductive, threatening, funny, and deeply unsettling all at once. And in this conversation, he explains why discomfort might be one of the most important tools an artist has. Raised between London, Ghana, Rastafarian culture, council estates, and rural England, Amartey speaks with rare honesty about growing up between identities and how that tension became the emotional engine of his work. In this conversation, you’ll hear how he learned to trust discomfort as part of his creative language, why audience feedback became essential to sharpening his voice, and how he creates installations that work not just intellectually, but viscerally — through sound, light, atmosphere, scale, and the body itself. We talk about the emotional labour behind ambitious projects, the crash that can come after making large-scale work, and why sustainability, family life, and building a nourishing environment now matter as much to him as artistic ambition. But perhaps most importantly, this episode offers a powerful lesson in how to develop your own artistic voice: not by trying to become someone else, but by listening more deeply to the contradictions, histories, and instincts already living inside you. This one is rich, layered, funny, tender, and deeply human. I can’t wait for you to hear it. KEY TAKEAWAYS Belonging is not always about finding where we fit, but about reshaping inherited stories until they can accommodate more of who we are. Sometimes our work becomes a way of making room for identities that existing symbols struggle to contain. There are moments in a creative life when continuing to succeed at one thing becomes a barrier to discovering another. Growth often asks us to leave behind what is proven, visible and commercially rewarded. We romanticise the artist who creates through suffering. But, when people have enough security to be curious, playful, and fully present, they gain access to forms of imagination that survival alone cannot sustain. BEST MOMENTS “Extraordinary work rarely comes from pretending to have everything figured out. It comes from staying in relationship with the complexity. Staying curious enough to keep listening to your own voice as it shifts and evolves.” “For me, it's all about the visceral... it's all about the belly, making stuff from the belly.” EPISODE RESOURCES http://amarteygolding.com/ https://www.instagram.com/amarteygolding HOST BIO With over 35 years in the art world, Ceri has worked closely with leading artists and arts professionals, managed public and private galleries and charities, and curated more than 250 exhibitions and events. She has sold artworks to major museums and private collectors and commissioned thousands of works across diverse media, from renowned artists such as John Akomfrah, Pipilotti Rist, Rafael Lozano-Hemmer and Vito Acconci. Now, she wants to share her extensive knowledge with you, so you can excel and achieve your goals. ** Ceri Hand Coaching Membership: Group coaching, live art surgeries, exclusive masterclasses, portfolio reviews, weekly challenges. Access our library of content and resource hub anytime and enjoy special discounts within a vibrant community of peers and professionals. Ready to transform your art career? Join today! https://cerihand.com/membership/ ** Unlock Your Artworld Network Self Study Course Our self-study video course, "Unlock Your Artworld Network," offers a straightforward 5-step framework to help you build valuable relationships effortlessly. Gain the tools and confidence you need to create new opportunities and thrive in the art world today. https://cerihand.com/courses/unlock_your_artworld_network/ ** Book a Discovery Call Today To schedule a personalised 1-2-1 coaching session with Ceri or explore our group coaching options, simply email us at hello@cerihand.com This Podcast has been brought to you by Disruptive Media. https://disruptivemedia.co.uk/
• 
  Artists, Don't Reply To That Commission Enquiry — Filter First - Part 4 of 9 18.06.2026 12min

  This episode is part of a nine-part series on commissions. How to prepare for them, respond to them, deliver them, and, crucially, how to stop them burning you out. If you haven't followed the podcast yet, hit follow so you don't miss an episode. Today, episode four of nine. And this is where the series shifts gears. For the last three episodes, we have been doing the preparation work. The mindset. The five signatures of under-pricing. The commission ecosystem. Today, an enquiry has arrived. This is the moment most artists get wrong because this is the moment their nervous system takes over. When an enquiry lands in your inbox. And before you've finished reading it, your stomach has tightened, your brain is already drafting a reply, and somewhere in the next three sentences you're going to offer availability, ideas, enthusiasm, and a half-committed yes – all before you know you are a good fit. And the principle is this. Before you reply with anything, you filter. How, is what today´s episode is about. KEY TAKEAWAYS Ceri´s short enquiry form is a low-friction sieve: it quietly filters out tire-kickers, and a serious client will fill it in within 10 minutes. The right questions reveal what they actually want, how committed they are, whether they really get your work, and whether their budget and timeline are realistic. After the enquiry form, you move into a chemistry call – 30 minutes - to ask important questions and spot red flags. Then, produce an alignment document to further test understanding. If the client confirms the alignment document, you move forward; if they come back with big changes, it’s a sign you weren’t fully aligned on the call – it’s far better to catch that now than 3 months into making. BEST MOMENTS “Stage one of responding to any inquiry is the initial filter, low friction, high signal, a sieve, not a conversation.” “If those signals are weak, you slow things down, you don't ghost them, but you don't rescue them, you reply politely with more questions,” “The alignment document - a short-written document that confirms in writing what you heard, not a proposal, not a quote, an alignment document.” For a text version of today's teaching, plus new practical guidance every week, you can subscribe to Beat the Block at http://cerihand.com/subscribe EPISODE RESOURCES First episode of this 9-part series - https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/designing-the-way-you-want-to-work-the-mindset/id1709105337?i=1000769915059 HOST BIO With over 35 years in the art world, Ceri has worked closely with leading artists and arts professionals, managed public and private galleries and charities, and curated more than 250 exhibitions and events. She has sold artworks to major museums and private collectors and commissioned thousands of works across diverse media, from renowned artists such as John Akomfrah, Pipilotti Rist, Rafael Lozano-Hemmer and Vito Acconci. Now, she wants to share her extensive knowledge with you, so you can excel and achieve your goals. ** Ceri Hand Coaching Membership: Group coaching, live art surgeries, exclusive masterclasses, portfolio reviews, weekly challenges. Access our library of content and resource hub anytime and enjoy special discounts within a vibrant community of peers and professionals. Ready to transform your art career? Join today! https://cerihand.com/membership/ ** Unlock Your Artworld Network Self Study Course Our self-study video course, "Unlock Your Artworld Network," offers a straightforward 5-step framework to help you build valuable relationships effortlessly. Gain the tools and confidence you need to create new opportunities and thrive in the art world today. https://cerihand.com/courses/unlock_your_artworld_network/ ** Book a Discovery Call Today To schedule a personalised 1-2-1 coaching session with Ceri or explore our group coaching options, simply email us at hello@cerihand.com This Podcast has been brought to you by Disruptive Media. https://disruptivemedia.co.uk/
• 
  Don't Wait For Permission To Build The World You Want To Live In with Ian Giles and David Shenton 15.06.2026 1godz 27min

  I have two guests on the podcast today, and they have made something extraordinary together. The first drew queer Britain into being for sixty years and quietly refused to call any of its art. It paid the mortgage. It was cheaper than being a window cleaner. He published the world's first LGBTQ+ graphic novel in 1983, drew for Gay News, Capital Gay and The Guardian, made safer-sex campaigns through the AIDS crisis, and hung a nineteen-metre banner at Carrow Road for Justin Fashanu. All of which he called work - never art. That guest is cartoonist David Shenton. The artist who finally insisted it was art is Ian Giles. Together they have made Kindly Ease the Tension, David's first ever institutional retrospective. It begins with a small burnt doll, dressed in clothes knitted by a boy in a Lancashire terrace house and thrown into the fire by his father. The doll survived. So did the boy. In this conversation we get into what happens when somebody finally calls your sixty years of work art. We talk about the Duvet of Love; an AIDS memorial David stitched in a bedsit that he never meant to be art. We talk about the trans baton being passed in a moment when many in the gay community have gone quiet. We talk about censorship and the rising conservatism in the arts, the works that have to be shown after hours, the double standard between classical nudity and queer images. And we talk about what intergenerational care actually looks like in practice.  David is seventy-seven and says this retrospective has stretched his horizon by another ten years. There is a lesson in that for all of us. KEY TAKEAWAYS Some of the most important opportunities in your career won’t arrive through a formal application process. They happen because you care enough to ask the question, start the conversation, or create the thing you wish existed. What feels awkward, unfashionable, or difficult in one chapter of your life may be exactly what gives your work its depth and originality later on - resist the temptation to self-censor. BEST MOMENTS “The work you make at your kitchen table, when nobody is watching, may turn out to be the archive of a generation. Keep going. Pass the baton when it is time.” “I really wanted to live in a world where there was a David Shenton retrospective.” RESOURCES https://www.instagram.com/d.shenton https://www.instagram.com/iangiles https://www.museumscollections.norfolk.gov.uk/collections-object-page?id=NWHCM%20:%202016.221.1 HOST BIO With over 35 years in the art world, Ceri has worked closely with leading artists and arts professionals, managed public and private galleries and charities, and curated more than 250 exhibitions and events. She has sold artworks to major museums and private collectors and commissioned thousands of works across diverse media, from renowned artists such as John Akomfrah, Pipilotti Rist, Rafael Lozano-Hemmer and Vito Acconci. Now, she wants to share her extensive knowledge with you, so you can excel and achieve your goals. Ceri Hand Coaching Membership: Group coaching, live art surgeries, exclusive masterclasses, portfolio reviews, weekly challenges. Access our library of content and resource hub anytime and enjoy special discounts within a vibrant community of peers and professionals. Ready to transform your art career?  https://cerihand.com/membership/ Unlock Your Artworld Network Self Study Course Our self-study video course, "Unlock Your Artworld Network," offers a straightforward 5-step framework to help you build valuable relationships effortlessly. Gain the tools and confidence you need to create new opportunities and thrive in the art world. https://cerihand.com/courses/unlock_your_artworld_network/ Book a Discovery Call  To schedule a personalised 1-2-1 coaching session with Ceri or explore our group coaching, email us at hello@cerihand.com This Podcast has been brought to you by Disruptive Media. https://disruptivemedia.co.uk/
• 
  Your Commission Ecosystem: Four Decisions To Make Before The Next Enquiry Lands - Part 3 of 9 11.06.2026 12min

  This episode is part of a nine-part series on commissions. How to prepare for them, respond to them, deliver them, and, crucially, how to stop them burning you out. If you haven't followed the podcast yet, hit follow so you don't miss an episode. Today, episode three of nine. The first practical stage of the commission process. Your commission ecosystem. In episode one, we did the mindset work. In episode two, we named the five mistakes that almost every underpriced commission has in common. Today we start building the structure. Here is the principle. Stage one of any serious commission practice is the invisible work. The four decisions you make, in advance, before any enquiry arrives. These decisions form what I call your commission ecosystem. Build it once. Revisit it annually. Let it do the work of saying no, so you do not have to do it in the moment. Why does this matter? Because the moment an enquiry arrives, your nervous system will want to say yes. The ecosystem, written down in advance, is the only thing standing between that yes and the resentment you will feel six months later. Four decisions. Let me walk you through each. KEY TAKEAWAYS Set a clear annual profit target for commissions - pricing will stop feeling vague or reactive any you will know how many of each type of commission you need to complete to keep your practice viable. A written rules list and clarity on materials, scale, and time protect you from burnout work and pull in the commissions that genuinely grow your practice.     BEST MOMENTS “The year is the unit, not the commission. Once you know what the year needs to earn, every individual commission conversation becomes easier, because you know what you're measuring against.” “This is the work. Nobody else can do it for you. But once it's done, every inquiry that arrives from that moment onward lands into a structure that already knows how to respond to it.” “Clarity makes an artist easier to collaborate with, not harder. It gives the people commissioning them something stable to work with.” For a text version of today's teaching, plus new practical guidance every week, you can subscribe to Beat the Block at https://cerihand.com/subscribe/ EPISODE RESOURCES Episode 1 of this 9-part series - https://podcasts.apple.com/es/podcast/designing-the-way-you-want-to-work-the-mindset/id1709105337?i=1000769915059 HOST BIO With over 35 years in the art world, Ceri has worked closely with leading artists and arts professionals, managed public and private galleries and charities, and curated more than 250 exhibitions and events. She has sold artworks to major museums and private collectors and commissioned thousands of works across diverse media, from renowned artists such as John Akomfrah, Pipilotti Rist, Rafael Lozano-Hemmer and Vito Acconci. Now, she wants to share her extensive knowledge with you, so you can excel and achieve your goals. ** Ceri Hand Coaching Membership: Group coaching, live art surgeries, exclusive masterclasses, portfolio reviews, weekly challenges. Access our library of content and resource hub anytime and enjoy special discounts within a vibrant community of peers and professionals. Ready to transform your art career? Join today! https://cerihand.com/membership/ ** Unlock Your Artworld Network Self Study Course Our self-study video course, "Unlock Your Artworld Network," offers a straightforward 5-step framework to help you build valuable relationships effortlessly. Gain the tools and confidence you need to create new opportunities and thrive in the art world today. https://cerihand.com/courses/unlock_your_artworld_network/ ** Book a Discovery Call Today To schedule a personalised 1-2-1 coaching session with Ceri or explore our group coaching options, simply email us at hello@cerihand.com ** Discover Your Extraordinary Creativity Visit www.cerihand.com to learn how we can help you become an extraordinary creative. This Podcast has been brought to you by Disruptive Media. https://disruptivemedia.co.uk/