Yana Peel, Chanel’s global head of arts and culture, aims to democratise art appreciation. Photograph by Sylwia Szyplik. Yana Peel is a fan of the artists Gilbert & George, the octogenarian suit-wearing duo who live and work in London’s East End and are renowned for their commitment to making art accessible. Since their first “living sculpture” in 1969, their art has been designed to promote engagement and inclusivity. Peel, who is the global head of arts and culture at French fashion house Chanel, told the Art Newspaper in 2023: “I celebrate anything that is there to bring the arts to audiences, particularly in the spirit of Gilbert & George’s ‘art for all’. ” Making art accessible to the masses is Peel’s wheelhouse. Peel joined Chanel in 2020 after several years as the CEO of London’s Serpentine Galleries. Soon after her appointment, the luxury maison launched the Chanel Culture Fund, which partners with cultural institutions globally in a bid to champion new ideas and foster creativity. Peel has advanced Chanel’s association with the arts while staying true to the history of the brand, founded by Gabrielle “Coco” Chanel in 1910. Chanel herself supported creators including the Russian composer Igor Stravinsky and the Ballets Russes impresario Sergei Diaghilev. “When I arrived in 2020, I was thinking, how do you extend that spirit of curiosity, of generosity, of embracing the avant garde? That became this mindset of appreciating that we could foster a vibrant network of creators and innovators to advance the ideas that shape culture,” Peel says, speaking to T Australia from London.
“But the red thread was that we were being very local in terms of assessing what was needed on the ground from these leading cultural institutions, and then working for resources on very sustainable long-term partnerships to figure out how we could lift that to a place where we could have global resonance and impact,” she says. The fund’s network includes the National Portrait Gallery in London, where efforts have been focused on increasing the representation of women in the collection; the Centre Pompidou in Paris, where collaborations between architects, designers, artists and scientists to build sustainable cities has been front of mind; and the Power Station of Art in Shanghai, where a program was created to showcase new ideas and emerging movements in craft and architecture in China. “We went to [museum director] Gong Yan and said, ‘What is it that we can do as Chanel to help you extend this brilliant work you’re doing in this leading Shanghai institution?’ ” says Peel. “And she said, ‘Oh, what we really need for the next generation is a focus on transmission of craftsmanship, a focus on architecture.’”
Working with the Leeum Museum of Art in Seoul, South Korea, on a multi-year initiative, Chanel is convening leading international and Korean artists, philosophers and scientists to discuss sustainability and inclusive futures in a project called the Idea Museum (“Idea” stands for inclusivity, diversity, equality and access). “I think Covid enforced the idea of needing to meet people where they are, so it wasn’t like one could come out of that and say, ‘We have a one-size-fits-all model,’ ” Peel says. “That was a really interesting moment that showed us that influence is very local and people really need those connections.”
In Australia, Chanel is the Australian Ballet’s Living Heritage Partner, helping the organisation to preserve its archives. “That’s an example of having to go very local again to think about what is needed in Australia,” she says. “There’s something very noble about preserving the past and then activating that to define the future. So at the Australian Ballet, we focused on data asset management, which does not sound very glamorous but is essential when you are looking through 60 years.” Peel also praises the vision of the company’s artistic director, David Hallberg, who was appointed in 2021 after years as the principal dancer with the American Ballet Theater and the Bolshoi Ballet. After pandemic lockdowns ended, in 2023 he took the company overseas, performing for the first time in 35 years at the Royal Opera House in London.
“They had done this beautiful world tour that was so appreciated,” Peel says. “I look at him as this amazing leader in terms of how he is captaining this group.”
Peel believes “the future is made with fragments from the past” and is passionate about aligning contemporary artists with a fashion house steeped in tradition. Chanel has used its shop windows in the Bruton Street store in London to celebrate artists embracing technology. Shanghai artist Lu Yang, Turkish American new media artist and designer Refik Anadol and Sheffield-based digital art practice Universal Everything have all had works displayed in the windows. “We are really trying to use our resources to give them what they need so they can also experiment in a way that doesn’t have to have a defined deliverable or a commercial purpose,” Peel says.
Currently, the Chanel Culture Fund is on the ground at the Venice Biennale (on until November 24), supporting the young sculptor Julien Creuzet and his presentation at the French Pavilion. “He’s a brilliant artist and the first Caribbean French artist to represent France,” Peel notes.
Peel hopes the fund will continue to focus on local influence and global impact. “I’d love to continue weaving this web for the house that has preceded me, that will exist long into the future,” she says. “But really do so in collaboration with the people, leaders and creators who are seeing things we can’t even imagine laid out there on the horizon.
