Lise Arlot

We are really excited to have the opporunity to speak with this special "Modern Muse" - Lise Arlot , Head of Strategy for MTArt Agency. 

Hello Lise- let's start. 

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Where are you right now?

At my desk at MTArt Agency! Our office is located in a stunning Victorian building with period features in the West side of Marylebone. We have 2 floors there so I move a lot between our office floor and our artist space. While I love working from home from time to time, coming to the office to work with my team while surrounded by the works of our Artists is very special.

How would you describe a good day for yourself?

A good day is a day full of stimuli. I love learning new things and finding solutions that make people happier. I get easily bored if I am not surrounded by as many people who are much smarter than me: from colleagues and friends to Artists and clients. Everyday is an opportunity to learn, brainstorm and refine your views and perspectives.

What brings you inspiration?

Art. To me, art is about life, so no matter what mood I am in, there is art to read about, to go and see or an artist to meet that will inspire me and reshape the way I see and experience the world. I am utterly convinced that if more people could meaningfully interact with more art regardless of their social-economical status is my life purpose. It is my North Star and it helps me transcend my limits/difficulties. To give you an idea, I have dyslexia, dyscalculia, and dysgraphia but to integrate art in different contexts, I can review complexe legal documents, work out financials, hand write formal letters, etc.

Which part of your job is your favourite?

What I love the most about my job is growth orientated. Hiring new brilliant brains, enrolling more inspiring artists, working out scalable ways to make art a bigger part of everyone’s everyday life, exploring new opportunities to target new strategic markets. This is what makes me the happiest by far.

What colour describes you best?


I think a soothing and calming colour like a dark royal blue or an earthy tone of brown. However, I guess that it changes throughout the day. I find colour theory genuinely fascinating which is also why I particularly connect to Liz West’s practice.

What are you working on at the moment?

The opening of a brand new MTArt office in a region of the world that is much warmer than London. Very exciting times to say the least!

How do you define success?

That is a question that used to petrify me a few years ago. I came to the conclusion that finding new creative solutions to allow more people to experience more art on a daily basis is how I measure success and how I make sense of it all. There are big successes like high scale and high impact public art projects for example, and very small steps like taking an intimidated grown up on their first museum tour. At the end of the day, both small and huge milestones count and make all the struggles worth it.

How would you describe yourself in three words?

Driven, idea-oriented and egoless.

Modern Muses that inspire you and why?

That’s going to sound very cheesy but the women in my family and especially my mother are a constant source of inspiration to me. They were/are incredibly independent and driven. Maybe they are not always perfectly ‘woke’ according to 2022’s standards but what I love is their ability to listen, understand, and make their views evolve instead of being stuck in a certain mindset for the sake of ‘being right’.

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Thank you very much Lise - your words have truly spoken to all of us. Art is a life-purpose and your passion for it is something moving. Wish you all the very best - for us you are the definition of a Modern Muse. 

Thank you, Eleni Simoni