Ceri Hand has spent thirty-five years inside the art world, in almost every role it offers. She has been an artist, publisher, curator, gallerist and institutional director.
She founded Ceri Hand Gallery in Liverpool and London, representing emerging artists whose work entered the collections of Tate and the Whitney and was shown at the Venice Biennale. As Associate Director at Simon Lee Gallery she worked with thirty-eight international artists across London and New York. As Director of Programmes at Somerset House she built a programme that drew 2.5 million visitors a year, including Get Up, Stand Up Now: Generations of Black Creative Pioneers and Mushrooms: The Art, Design and Future of Fungi. She was part of the programming team on the Liverpool Biennial in 2004 and 2006 and helped shape Liverpool’s Capital of Culture year. She has lectured at Central Saint Martins, Goldsmiths, the Sotheby’s Institute and the New Museum in New York.
In 2020 she left institutional leadership to coach the people who make the work. Her clients are artists, writers, founders, creative directors and cultural leaders across more than a hundred and twenty countries. Her podcast Extraordinary Creatives reached number one in Apple’s Arts charts within months of launch. Her first book is forthcoming with Profile Books.
She is Co-Chair of Castlefield Gallery, Manchester.