My guest today is the wonderful Italian-Australian singer-songwriter Gabriella Cilmi.

Many of you will remember her breakthrough hit Sweet About Me, which became a global success when she was just sixteen.

Since then she's toured the world, won awards, shared stages with some of music's biggest names, and now, after thirteen years, she's released a remarkable new album called Pure Love. It's soulful, analogue, deeply human, and for me, one of those records that gets better every time you listen to it.

What fascinated me wasn't the success. It was the journey back to herself.

In this conversation, Gabriella shares what it took to stop running from other people's expectations, how she learned to trust her own creative instincts again, why the people around us shape the work we're capable of making, and how she finally found the confidence to make the album she'd always wanted to make.

If you've ever questioned your own voice, struggled to trust your instincts, or wondered whether it's too late to create the work that's really inside you, I think you're going to love this conversation.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

BEST MOMENTS

“That first seed of idea is so important. don't lose track of it. It can change. Be open to it changing, but there's always something in that.”

“Fear never disappeared but became something she learned to work alongside. And perhaps most importantly, success became less about proving herself and more about finding peace with herself.”

“I just stopped trying as hard and just did what felt natural.”

EPISODE RESOURCES

https://open.spotify.com/artist/5v2GEv1pQaCp6oeOQROdKE

https://www.instagram.com/gabriellacilmi/ - to pre-order her new album

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 [email protected]

**

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/

I was watching The Big Deal, the new programme with Steph McGovern on the BBC, and I came away with more thoughts than will fit into one episode. Most of them can wait. Today I want to use one thing from it, because it landed directly on top of something that comes up in my membership every single week.

An artist has made a body of work. It went out once, into one exhibition, and it didn't sell. Now it's in the studio taking up space, and the question arrives in one of three forms. Should I auction it off cheap? Should I give it away? Should it even be on my website anymore?

So, three questions, and every one of them is a plan for getting rid.

It is interesting the speed at which the artist brain goes to disposal. The work has been out once…. and already the conclusion is that it's spent, it's evidence of something that didn't work, and that the fastest way back to feeling alright is to make it disappear. And underneath that is something bigger - artists hate the idea of selling.

Yet, I know that every artist can turn their graveyard of pieces that did not sell into a living archive that attracts collectors.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

BEST MOMENTS

“The work in the corner of your studio isn't waiting to be disposed of. It's waiting for you to remember why you made it and share your enthusiasm for it.”

“You have to sell yourself on the work first before you try to sell the work to anybody else.”

“She started looking for her people, her collectors, the ones already half interested in what she was interested in.”

If you want more of this in your inbox every week, subscribe to my newsletter Beat the Block cerihand.com/subscribe and it’ll land in your inbox every Friday.

EPISODE RESOURCES

How to sell more art episode - https://podcasts.apple.com/tw/podcast/want-to-sell-more-art-fix-this-first/id1709105337?i=1000700986682

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 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 [email protected]

This Podcast has been brought to you by Disruptive Media. https://disruptivemedia.co.uk/

Some artists spend their whole lives trying to outrun the work that made them famous.

There is a page in Emma's notebook that has been written out, in more or less the same words, most weeks for months.

Five things on it. Email the curator she met last spring. Book the studio visit. Get the new work up on the website. Finish the residency application. And every week, in that big looping handwriting of hers, the same five things go down on a clean page, and by the following week not one of them has a line through it.

If you have a page like that, and I think most of you do, I think some of you could recite yours to me right now, then this one is for you. It will help you to work out why you are repeatedly delaying doing those specific tasks, so you can finally break that cycle, get them done and make some real progress.Before we go any further, if you haven't followed the show yet, do that now, because these solo episodes land every week and they are built to be used rather than just listened to.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

BEST MOMENTS

“Not one of those five tasks was a task. All five were feelings that she'd already decided the task would produce.”

“You tell yourself to put the new work online, and it (your brain) files that under judgement. And you tell yourself to raise your prices, and it files that under losing everything you've built.”

“Confidence arrives afterwards. It arrives as evidence. Every difficult email that you've sent, every application you've submitted, every room that you've walked into before you felt ready, your brain quietly loved that you came out the other side.”

“Practising saying it out loud to yourself over and again is how it becomes embodied.”

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 [email protected]

****

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 does it really take to create extraordinary work with another person?

Not just the exciting bits of making, but everything that happens behind the scenes. Building trust. Navigating creative differences. Talking honestly about money. Knowing when to compromise and when to hold your ground. And finding a way to keep making work together over many years without losing your own artistic voice.

That's what today's conversation is really about.

My guests are composer and sound artist Ain Bailey and vocalist, composer and movement artist Elaine Mitchener MBE, two artists whose work has quietly shaped the landscape of contemporary art and experimental music in Britain and internationally.

Ain's work has been commissioned and exhibited by organisations including Camden Art Centre, the Serpentine, FACT Liverpool and CCS Bard in New York, and she's a recipient of the Paul Hamlyn Foundation's Awards for Artists.

Elaine is a Wigmore Hall Associate Artist, an MBE for Services to Music, a former DAAD Artist-in-Berlin Fellow, and an exhibiting artist in British Art Show 9, with a practice spanning contemporary music, performance and visual art.

Together they've created Maybe It's Because I'm a Londoner for Art on the Underground. But what they share today reaches far beyond a single commission.

This is a conversation about creative partnership, artistic integrity, sustaining a practice over decades, and what it really takes to make ambitious work that lasts.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

BEST MOMENTS

“They don't confuse trust with vagueness. They ask difficult questions, they're clear about expectations, they value each other's time, and they aren't afraid to have honest conversations.”

“There are friends who have seen the work of somebody online and think that they would want to collaborate with them. Then they do - and it's a horror show.”

“You're not behind. Rest is part of the work. Learning is part of the work.”

EPISODE RESOURCES

https://ainbailey.com/ 

https://www.elainemitchener.com/

https://www.instagram.com/elainemitchener1/

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 [email protected]

**

This Podcast has been brought to you by Disruptive Media. https://disruptivemedia.co.uk/

I was looking at an artist’s proposal recently for a really significant exhibition, and it was one of those proposals where you can immediately see that the artist has really thought about the opportunity.

They haven’t just taken some existing work and thought, right, where can I put this? They’ve responded to the place, they’re thinking about how people might move through it, there are new works, things happening outside, possible collaborations and performances, ideas around public engagement. You can feel their excitement about what the project might become.

And I was excited by it too. But because I’ve spent so many years on the other side of these proposals, working in galleries and institutions and actually having to get exhibitions and programmes made, I found myself reading it in two slightly different ways.

One part of me was thinking, this could be fantastic.

And the other part of me was thinking, bloody hell, this is a lot of work.

This episode addresses how ambitious creative ideas can quickly spiral into overwhelming production work. It offers practical guidance on how to navigate institutional proposals in a way that makes sure you don´t inadvertently agree to do all of the tasks needed to deliver the project.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

BEST MOMENTS

“One idea leads to another because that’s what you’re good at. Before long, you’ve offered the moon on a stick.”

“Stop assuming that you have to arrive with every answer.”

“I don’t think ambitious artists need to demonstrate their ambition by showing everybody how much they’re prepared to carry.”

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 [email protected]

****

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/

PJ Raval has spent his career asking a deceptively simple question: whose stories are we willing to see, and whose stories have we been taught to ignore?

'I don't want them to think I'm difficult.'

I've heard that sentence more times than I can count, usually about four minutes after somebody has told me the best news of their year. They’ve landed a gig, an exhibition, commission. The residency they've wanted since art school. We celebrate, then the room goes quiet, and out it comes.

What they're worried about is never the work. It's the hundred emails from eleven different people wanting an answer that afternoon. The day of travel with nothing after it. The meet and greet with thirty people on arrival. Whether there will be somewhere to sit down for ten minutes. Whether the biggest decisions will land on the day they have the least energy.

If you have ever done that arithmetic before saying yes, this episode is for you, because I want to give you something better than hoping it will be fine.

Last week, I talked about my own experience of chronic fatigue and learning the conditions that let me flourish. That was the part we have some influence over.

This part is harder, because it involves asking somebody else for something so we can work at our best. By the end, you will understand why asking feels so hard and how to do it without appearing “difficult to work with”.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

BEST MOMENTS

“When an artist told me early in writing exactly what they needed in order to do their best work, my honest reaction was relief, not irritation.”

“The thing that actually frightens a producer isn't somebody with access requirements. It's discovering something on the morning of the install that could have been solved six weeks earlier with one phone call.”

“You don't have to disclose a medical condition to anybody. In most countries, you're not obliged to, and a rider works perfectly well without one.”

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 [email protected]

****

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/

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

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 [email protected]

****

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/

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

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 [email protected]

****

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/