Art Links

Mentoring Menu

Mentoring 09: Visual Arts Mentoring 08: Visual Arts

ArtLinks Mentoring

ArtLinks gratefully acknowledges the Arts Council for supporting research to deliver this strand of the ArtLinks programme.

Pilot ArtLinks Mentoring Advice Sessions for ArtLinks Visual Arts Practitioners were delivered across the five counties during November and December 2008. A second series was delivered in July 2009. See Left for details.

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Testimonials from 2008 Mentees:

It was most enlivening to have two eminent professionals look at and discuss my work, and inspiring that they were interested in my idea and encouraged me to pursue it, with very practical suggestions for future development.

Helen Blake, Wicklow Artist

It is not easy to remain confident in one's practice, given the many 'knock-backs' one receives as an artist. It is therefore really important to have occasion to get constructive feedback from colleagues, and to have someone in whom one has confidence, to point out those things of value in one's work. These were objective viewpoints given by established practitioners and art educators, and I felt encouraged, and nudged in directions I needed to consider.
Helen Gaynor, Wexford Artist

Mentoring

Mentoring in the arts can take many forms and involve significant investment, yet it can effect rapid career development for people working in creative fields. For example, projects that incorporate mentoring support, apprenticeships with leading professionals, shadow mentoring / working alongside more experienced professionals on live projects and master-class workshops can all be forms of effective Mentoring.

Professional creative practitioners, who may or may not have begun their careers with traditional training courses, can often be seen to self-direct mentoring opportunities to substantially develop their professional practice. However, for many, gaining advice from leading professionals outside of educational institutions can often be difficult to achieve.

One of the key strands of the ArtLinks programme, informed by consultation with the arts communities, is the initiation of mentoring supports for professional creative practitioners in the region. To deliver such a Mentoring Strand, ArtLinks has been working recently with a leading UK Arts Development Agency, Chrysalis Arts, on devising useful and cost effective mentoring programmes. ArtLinks, in time, will deliver mentoring programmes for all art forms, to assist professional creative practitioners in the different stages of their careers.

In this initial series, ArtLinks is developing mentoring for ArtLinks Visual Artists and Makers. Each of the ArtLinks Arts Officers will be nominating* five such practitioners from the five ArtLinks Counties.

Furthermore, in this series, ArtLinks will concentrate solely on assisting Emerging Visual Artists and Makers but it is envisaged that ArtLinks in future will offer mentoring to Recent Graduates and Early Career Artists and Makers.

The Mentoring format for this series will consist of an initial exchange of information between the nominated Artists and Makers and ArtLinks. This will lead to a focused one hour, personal mentoring session with an expert panel comprising of practicing artists and curators who are leaders in their field. ArtLinks is delivering this inaugural mentoring series in November 2008.

ArtLinks is a professional development service for artists of all disciplines, which is based on a partnership between the Arts Departments of
Local Authorities in the counties of Carlow, Kilkenny, Waterford, Wicklow and Wexford, The Arts Council / An Comhairle Ealaoin and artists
from these counties.
Is Seirbhís Fhorbartha Ghairmiúil é Artlinks d’ealaíontóirí i ngach disciplín, atá bunaithe ar chomhpháirtíocht idir Ranna Ealaíon Údaráis Áitiúla contaetha Ceatharlach, Cill Chainnigh, Port Láirge, Cill Mantáin agus Loch Garman, An Chomhairle Ealaíon agus ealaíontóirí ó na contaetha seo.

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