Image Credit: Lisa Baker, Hackney Art Week, Co-founder. Photographed by Tara Darby.

Some people spend years plotting their route into the art world. For Lisa Baker, it began with a chance encounter in a coffee shop.

Back in 2002, after a conversation about Charles Saatchi and a bold PR idea, Lisa found herself helping launch the new Saatchi Gallery at County Hall on London’s South Bank. On the opening night, she was standing amid Spencer Tunick’s famous installation of 300 nude participants, watching politicians, pop stars and artists mingle in one of London’s most surreal cultural moments. More than two decades on, that blend of creativity, curiosity and playful connection still runs through everything she does.

Today, Lisa is one of London’s most respected arts and culture PR professionals, working across visual arts, publishing, photography, festivals and social impact projects. More recently, alongside co-founder Anna McHugh, she has channelled that experience into Hackney Art Week – a free, borough-wide celebration of contemporary creativity that returns for its second edition from 4–14 June.

What makes Hackney Art Week resonate right now is its refusal to be defined by convention. There is no central institution, no velvet rope and no hierarchy. Instead, art spills into cafés, bakeries, pubs, community spaces, studios and streets – reflecting the way creativity already exists across Hackney. At a time when artists face increasing pressures around affordability, visibility and space, the festival champions connection, accessibility and cultural belonging.

In this conversation, Lisa reflects on her journey into the arts, the accidental origins of Hackney Art Week, and the remarkable creative community that has formed around it. She also shares three places that inspire her in London today: V&A East, the much-loved Mildmay Club in Stoke Newington, and – naturally – the ever-expanding community that is Hackney Art Week itself.

If you’re curious about where London’s creative energy is gathering in 2026, immerse yourself in Hackney Art Week from 4–14 June. Wander, explore, discover something unexpected, and see where the art leads you.

Your career has moved fluidly across PR, publishing, photography, cultural strategy and community-building – but where did it all begin?

My first job was at the Press Association and then I sort of fell into PR, initially in entertainment on clients like the BAFTAs.

There wasn’t anything particularly planned or strategic about my introduction to the art world. One morning in 2002 I bumped into a friend in a coffee shop on my way to the office and he told me he was working for Charles Saatchi. I gave him a PR idea and the next day I got a call asking me to come in and meet Charles. We chatted for half an hour and he gave me and my then business partner, Will Paget, the gig to run the PR for the new Saatchi Gallery opening at County Hall. I was only 26 so it was in at the deep end.

On the opening night at County Hall we had 300 naked people forming a human installation on the South Bank in front of the London Eye, courtesy of an artist called Spencer Tunick, and then they all piled inside and mingled with pop stars, Tory grandees, TV presenters, authors and actors. It was nuts – you’d turn a corner and see the likes of Michael Heseltine wandering stern faced through the gallery flanked by three naked men. It was quite the night.

So that’s how I accidentally landed in the art world, more than 20 years ago.
Looking back I realise many of my career highlights have come from a mix of meeting the right people at the right time and being ready to make something of it – connections and chance encounters have led me to a lot of great projects.

I’ve stayed in and around arts and culture ever since. My PR agency (@lisabaker_ltd) works across the sector – everything from events like the always brilliant Art Car Boot Fair, to art fundraisers like Art on a Postcard, plus with publishers, galleries, artists and photographers. I worked with music impresario Vince Power on his festivals, plus with lots of brands looking to engage with culture. About five years ago we also expanded into more social impact work, including charities such as War Child.

I love it. It’s so varied, no week is the same and you have such interesting people drifting in and out of your working life.

So that’s the day job. Hackney Art Week came out of years spent working across the industry, and then a chance meeting with my co-founder Anna McHugh. We met through a friend and immediately knew we wanted to work together in some way.

Image Credit: Lisa Baker and Anna McHugh, co-Founders, Hackney Art Week.

Hackney Art Week started as a blank page in 2025 and has already doubled in scale for its second edition – 130+ artists, 60 venues, ten days. What did the inaugural edition teach you that you’ve brought directly into how you’ve built the 2026 programme?

Anna and I started it quite accidentally last year. We were chatting one morning about how crazy it was that there were art weeks and gallery weekends all over London but nothing in Hackney, even though so many artists and creatives live and work here. So we decided to start one there and then. We did it in about five weeks and it just took off. This year we were aiming for something fairly modest – around 40 artists and 40 venues. We ran an Open Call back in February and then it just exploded. Between us we already knew a few artists we hoped might be involved, but the more people we spoke to, the more recommendations we got, and suddenly there was just this incredible amount of interest out there. And so much brilliant work.

We’ve basically spent the first half of the year consumed by 5am WhatsApp messages before work, then cycling around Hackney after hours meeting artists and seeing venues.

I think we’re both quite similar in that we’re very positive people who just like making things happen, so we’ve stayed really open to everything. If someone came to us with a good idea or great work, we just said yes and figured it out afterwards. It wasn’t until we finally sat down and counted everyone up that we thought: “Oh my God… what have we done?”

Image Credit: ‘Wilton Way Gallery Rewilding’ at Hackney Art Week, 2025.

The festival deliberately resists the conventions of a traditional art week – no big gallery hierarchy, no single anchor venue, art turning up in bakeries and record shops and on street corners. This feels beautifully deconstructed. What’s the curatorial thinking behind that, and how do you keep that feeling genuinely spontaneous rather than manufactured?

Honestly, it’s probably been fuelled by equal parts chaos, instinct and enthusiasm. There was never some grand masterplan. We’ve both worked in and around the industry for more than twenty years, so we know what we respond to emotionally, what we don’t want things to feel like, and quite instinctively how we wanted Hackney Art Week to be.

I guess it doesn’t feel manufactured because it isn’t. It has just evolved naturally. It genuinely reflects the way creativity exists in Hackney already – spread across cafés, shops, studios, restaurants, community spaces and streets rather than sitting behind one centralised institution.

A huge amount of this project has been possible because of the generosity and energy of local people. There’s been a lot of laughter, a lot of winging it, and a lot of brilliant people helping make things happen.

Image Credit: Dalston Cultural Quarter, photographed by Ellen Hancock.

Hackney has long been associated with artists and creative communities – but it’s also a borough shaped by rapid change, rising costs and questions around who gets to stay and participate. How conscious are you of those tensions while building Hackney Art Week?

Very conscious. It’s tough out there at the moment – for artists, small businesses, hospitality, everyone really. Creating visibility and opportunities for artists is becoming increasingly difficult, particularly when gallery representation, fairs and studio costs can be so prohibitive.

One thing that became really clear speaking to artists across Hackney this year is how much people value the chance to come together and feel part of something collective. There’s a real appetite for connection and visibility.

It was incredibly important to us that Hackney Art Week remained free – both for artists taking part and for audiences attending. We wanted the programme to feel open, broad and genuinely reflective of Hackney’s cultural ecology – from emerging artists, studios, and collectives to local venues, restaurants, shops and community-led spaces. We have a couple of workshops where artists charge a small fee simply to cover materials or costs, but the vast majority of the programme is free, which was a really important decision for us.

Festivals like this can’t solve the structural pressures artists face, but they can create visibility, momentum, collaboration and a sense of cultural belonging – which feels more important than ever.

Image Credit: The Queen Adelaide, 483 Hackney Road, London.

The 2026 programme spans everything from projections and sound systems to ceramics workshops, photography, writing and immersive installations. What do you hope people leave Hackney Art Week with?

We hope people try something new or discover something unexpected — whether that’s an artist, a venue, a conversation, or even a part of Hackney they haven’t explored before.

Because the programme is so broad, you can end up doing things you never planned to do. You might have your portrait taken in London Fields, become part of a living tea-party installation, learn how to make ceramic tiles, take your kids to an art workshop in a church tower, listen to music by the canal, or simply sit in a beautiful restaurant surrounded by great art.

There’s something really joyful about all these different creative worlds colliding at once.

What we love most is that it all comes from the incredible creative community already living and working in Hackney. For ten days, that energy becomes visible all at once.

Run Riot is all about cultural discovery and community. Could you share three of your favourite cultural places and/or creative communities in London right now?

That’s such a difficult question because London is unbelievably rich creatively right now. I was born in London and although the city has changed enormously over the years, it does feel like there’s a really interesting creative energy out there at the moment – which often happens during difficult periods.

I think it’s brilliant that V&A East has opened, and the Music Is Black exhibition is fantastic. Such an incredible idea for an exhibition, and it features some of my favourite photographers like David Corio and Lawrence Watson.

I love the Mildmay Club in Stoke Newington. It’s at the end of my road and has a very special place in my heart. I’ve had some amazing nights there – it feels like a genuine community space that still carries the spirit of old London.

And honestly, I’d have to say the Hackney Art Week community itself. The artists, collectives, venues and creatives we’ve brought together over this year have created a real sense of fun and collaboration. The feeling of community and positivity that’s come out of it has been quite incredible – and not something I’ve felt in London in quite the same way for a while.

Find Lisa at lisabakerltd.com and on Insta @lisabaker_ltd

Hackney Art Week
Across Hackney
4-14 June
hackneyartweek.com | @hackneyartweek