Mike's memoirs of mentoring

DASH has been offering mentoring and support to Disabled artists at all stages of their careers for over five years and we have worked with over seventy five artists in this time.

There is no fixed template to our approach to mentoring as the content of the sessions is led by the artist.

The topics most artists want to discuss are:

• Promotion and getting their work seen more i.e. websites, mailing lists, networks etc
• Opportunities. Contacts for other organisations
• Career discussions. Discussing where the artist is and where they would like to be
• Looking at or compiling portfolios
• Support with funding applications

 

The list is pretty endless, but has to be initiated by the artist, even if it is quite a general discussion about themselves and their work

I find mentoring fascinating as a fan of the crime thriller it has similar elements. We often don't know what is blocking our development or what we really want to do, till you have someone who will unconditionally listen to all your moans and groans about how hard it is to be an artist, make a living and all the rest that life in 21^st Century capitalism throws at us.

Mike