Cross Borders: Mentoring
Overview
The Cross Borders mentoring programme offers 10 artists, activists, and cultural practitioners the opportunity to be matched with experienced and established mentors who will help to support their creative development. We are now open for applications for our third cohort.
Mentorship is a process where a person’s development and progression is supported by another established professional who has a similar creative practice. Through structured meetings and conversation your mentor will provide encouragement and targeted support, help you to build connections, share their knowledge and experience, and support you to identify goals and overcome challenges.
Our mentors are established artists, activists and cultural practitioners from all over the world. (See previous mentors from 2021 - 2023 programmes below.) If your application is successful, we will work with you to identify the right mentor for you and your interests. You will meet with your mentor online and in person where possible.
Throughout the year you will receive the following support:
- 6 one-to-one mentoring sessions with your mentor
- Ongoing advice and support from the Cross Borders team
- A £1200 grant to support your professional and creative development
- Travel, data and childcare expenses can be provided so that you can attend meeting
Who it's for
Are you seeking opportunities for creative expression and participation?
Do you earn a living, or hope to carve out a career through activism or the arts?
Are you looking for ways to improve cultural and community life for yourself and others?
Are you interested in, or already practicing visual arts, curation, artistic production, film, music, performance, cooking, dance, literature, design, journalism, cultural heritage and community engagement?
- You must be from a refugee or other migrant background.
- You must be based in Scotland.
- Priority is given to those who have had little or no support like this before.
- People who are seeking asylum and who do not have refugee status are welcome to apply. If your application is successful, we will coordinate your grant so that it does not impact on your claim for asylum.
How to Apply
To apply, please complete the application form by Sunday 2 July, end of day.
Timeline
- Sunday 2 July (end of day) 2023 Deadline for applications.
- Mid July 2023 Applicants notified of decisions.
- End of July 2023 First meetings with Cross Borders team and first grant instalments paid.
- September 2023 Mentor introductions made and mentoring sessions begin.
- June 2024 Final mentoring sessions take place and second grant instalment paid.
Cross Borders Mentors 2021 - 2022
Tawona Sitholé: Zimbabwean poet, playwright and storyteller
Alberta Whittle: Barbadian-Scottish artist, researcher and curator
Emma Jayne Park: Scottish dancer, theatre maker and activist
Clare Robertson: African-Scottish musician and performer
Jasleen Kaur: Scottish-Indian artist and lecturer
Taghrid Choucair-Vizoso: Lebanese theatre maker, joint CEO of Shubbak, co-founder of At Home in Gaza and London
Jade Montserrat: English research-led artist and writer
Cross Borders Mentors 2022 - 2023
Pio Abad: Filipino artist, curator and lecturer
Leena Nammari: Palestinian-Scottish artist and printmaker
Emma Smith: Scottish composer and musician
Irineau Destourelles: Cape Verdean visual artist
Janette Ayachi: Scottish-Algerian poet, writer and performer
Maryam Hamidi: Iranian writer and director
Rhea Lewis: Scottish creative producer
Sara Shaarawi: Egyptian playwright
Sekai Machache: Zimbabwean-Scottish visual artist and curator
Zozan Yasar: Kurdish journalist
For any additional language support or with any questions about the project or application process, please contact Programme Coordinator beulah.ezeugo@scottishrefugeecouncil.org.uk (Tuesday to Thursday).
Given the minimal support and consistent erasure of people from underrepresented backgrounds, this programme provides a significant opportunity for supporting critical creative work – vital in attending to systemic erasures. I consider mentorship, especially peer-led, to be an important method in sharing resources and knowledge.
Mentor, Alberta Whittle
Having been culturally displaced as a child and young person I never had a particularly easy path in life. I often found myself at odds with the environments I was in, with others and at times even with myself. As a young person I struggled with issues of identity, isolation and community but as an adult I see how this has shaped and empowered me to help others.
Mentor, Clare Robertson
Image credit: Jade Montserrat