Ten lessons learned through mentoring with Arts Emergency
For the past year I volunteered as a mentor for a young person with a charity called Arts Emergency. Arts Emergency is a charity that helps to give young people a fair start in the creative industry and one that I have supported through my work where I can. Helping a young person find direction was both rewarding and challenging so I thought I’d write ten things I learned from the experience.
I learned that listening to someone means you take what they say seriously and allows space to work out solutions together. This is far more effective than telling someone what you think they should do (which might not be right).
You can learn just as much from someone early in their career as someone who is an ‘expert.’ I was blown away by my mentee’s knowledge of comic art – we spent an afternoon in a comic book shop and I felt like I could pick up any book and she would give me a review. I was inspired by the range of subject matters, ideas and styles, covering fun and really serious topics.
I loved the train journeys to Manchester through the Peak District. I found I came up with lots of ideas on the train without too many distractions so I deliberately got slow trains at off peak hours so I could have a seat to myself and let my creative mind wander.
It was refreshing to be around someone who was curious about creativity. When you’ve been in an industry a while it’s easy to stick to known paths. It reminded me to always be a beginner.
Some of my mentee’s work was as advanced as the work of a professional illustrator (if not better). It was a reminder that skill is only one small part of success as an illustrator and that communication skills and connections are key.
The Arts Emergency network is such a simple but genius idea for sharing resources. If a young person needs access to a book, tickets, advice about a niche topic, this goes out to the network to see if someone can help.
Having emails ignored by creative studios was a reminder of how hard it is to find experience starting out. I was so grateful to those who gave an hour of their time to help us (or those who replied really honestly to say they couldn’t).
I spent many hours in the Fred Aldous art shop, fooling myself that I could carry a load of art equipment home on the train (and then putting most of it back on the shelves). EVERY TIME.
I’ve always got lost easily and I was worried I wouldn’t be able to help my mentee on visits and open days but it was actually fun getting lost together and trying to figure things out. Maybe it helps people feel at ease when you are open about your struggles.
Doing something through a organisation pushing for positive change makes you feel more hopeful about the future.
At the end of our year my mentee was able to have a firm idea of which courses she wanted to apply for, selecting options that enabled her to have versatility and explore a wide range of skills before homing in on a specialism.
If you’re interested in the work of Arts Emergency go check out www.arts-emergency.org. If you sign up to the network you can help in small ways as well as big ones. 🙏
