Social Justice charity Arts Emergency, is currently running a recruitment drive for creative professionals based in Merseyside, Greater Manchester, London and Brighton, to join its award-winning mentoring programme in 2024.
Young people from privileged backgrounds are four times more likely to make it into the creative industries than their peers and only 16% of people in the arts and humanities come from a working class background. The arts are elitist and have been for too long. Arts Emergency’s mentoring programme is designed to tackle this at a grassroots level and increase the proportion of people from traditionally underrepresented backgrounds working in the cultural and creative industries.
Julie Hesmondhalgh, actress in Coronation Street, Happy Valley, Broadchurch and former mentor, said: “Our future cultural landscape is in danger of being populated exclusively by the children of the wealthy and well-connected. I love Arts Emergency because it works to bridge this gap. To create the opportunities that have been taken away for the non-wealthy.”
Arts Emergency hand-match young people aged 16-18 with a local industry professional in their area of interest and provide training and safeguarding support for the mentor. Over the course of a year mentors meet their mentee once a month for a minimum of one hour. They help with everything from portfolios and personal statements, to work placements and auditions, with the charity providing individual support for the pair.
Previous mentee cohorts have found it to be an impactful and productive form of support and mentors have found it to be a rewarding way of sharing their knowledge and experience.
This year Arts Emergency is hoping to continue to expand its reach in the North West (Greater Manchester and Merseyside) and in Brighton, as well as gaining more representation in fashion, illustration, film and TV, music production, and gaming amongst other career areas.
Volunteer mentors bring a wealth of experience across fields such as TV, film, music, art, fashion, academia, journalism, publishing, design and theatre (full list of sectors here).
Arts Emergency supporters include DJ Gemma Cairney, fashion historian and BBC presenter Amber Butchart, comedians Joe Lycett and Nish Kumar, author and journalist Reni Eddo-Lodge and writer Neil Gaiman.
Join the Arts Emergency community and help change the future of the creative and cultural worlds. Applications are open until Saturday 30th September. Sign-up here.