Unlike the coaching relationship, which is usually a short-term intervention following a formal structure, the mentoring relationship can vary greatly in its approach. Because of the nature of the partnership – the assumption being that the mentor brings to the table his/her greater knowledge, expertise and experience – there is a chance that the mentor and mentee may already be known to each other, and have been working together for a while. The mentoring side of the relationship may evolve over a period of time, and take a much more informal path.
However, it is increasingly usual for an individual to find a mentor as part of an organised process.
The fluid hierarchical structures, myriad points of entry and high proportion of freelancers, sole traders and self-employed workers in the creative sector mean that there is often little opportunity for such relationships to evolve naturally.
In response to this, a number of formal mentoring programmes have been put in place or are in the process of being developed by some creative and cultural organisations. Examples of these include:
- Arts & Business, which runs a mentoring programme as part of its commitment to building effective and productive relationships between business managers and arts professionals.
- The Arts Marketing Association, which publishes an information pack and offers training for members who wish to become mentors as part of its programme.
- The Association of Independent Music’s mentoring scheme, which aims to help the managers of small music labels develop their management skills and grow their businesses by pairing them with more experienced industry professionals for advice and guidance.
- The Clore Leadership Programme, which matches high-profile mentors with its participants. Other management and leadership programmes such as the Professional Development (Cultural Leadership) MA at London’s City University include mentoring as part of their curriculum.
- Creative Partnerships, who, in conjunction with Arts Inform, established a mentoring scheme for teachers in south and east London, providing them with mentors from the creative and cultural industries.
- Empowering the Artist (ETA), an art development and production company, runs two mentoring schemes for fine and applied artists, pairing them with key figures in the art world, such as writers, critics and curators, with whom they can engage in critical debate about their work and practice.
- The Independent Theatre Council, which has established an action learning mentoring programme for theatre arts managers.
- The Museums Association, which has developed a mentoring scheme as part of its framework for professional development, and produced a ‘Mentoring Toolkit’. This has since been adopted by its partners The Institute of Conservation (ICON), The Society of Archivists and The Chartered Institute of Library and Information.
- The National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts (NESTA), has a network of mentors who are assigned to entrepreneurs to provide business support and advice.
