The Mentoring One-Year Programme offers artists who are at the point of launching themselves professionally, the remarkable experience of a year of guidance from many leading artists from the UK and beyond.
The year provides mentoring, one-to-one and group tutorials and professional development in a supportive and constructive environment with practising artists and arts specialists sharing their knowledge and experience with the group. Work is created between sessions (sessions themselves are non-practical) and brought in for the weekends to gain guidance from the artists who teach on the course. At times, on each weekend, there are up to six artists teaching the sixteen to eighteen participants at the same time, giving an amazingly high ratio of contemporary artist tutors to students.
The course has helped many artists to gain confidence in their work and realise their ambitions. Previous students on the course have gone on to win respected national art prizes, been granted prestigious residencies, several have been taken on by galleries around the country, many have had their work covered in the art press, TV and national newspapers, been accepted as members of well-known art societies and studio complexes or had offers of places to study at a postgraduate level such as the Royal College of Art. However, for many participants, the experience is most valuable for the opportunity it gives them for an in-depth discussion of their work with valuable feedback from experienced artists and their peers on the course. We encourage those attending the course to look at a wide range of artists to who they might relate and to further understand the context in which they are working. In this way, consistent encouragement and guidance can be given continuously over the year aimed at building the development and confidence of each student.
Jesse Leroy Smith is the Lead Tutor on the course and is joined by a regular team of experienced artists each weekend alongside a wealth of visiting artists from around the country who share their work with the group and offer feedback to the participants. We have found that the camaraderie of the group both during the course and among its alumni has been a lasting benefit for those who attend the course. Networking opportunities with artists, curators and arts leaders are invaluable to professional artists.
One of the topics covered in the course is a discussion of the range of ways in which you can get your work seen by the public from approaching commercial and public gallery spaces to artist-led shows, social media, promoting events in the press, open studios and grant-funded projects.
Participants in the programme will take part in a series of shows with opening previews and a major final exhibition in an impressive space with a public gallery feel. These allow us to address how best to present your work to the public, curating and marketing.
We also look at a wide variety of issues experienced by artists from finding the right materials and supports to work with, to framing artists’ prints, photographing your work, motivating yourself, art competitions, residencies and ways to support your practice among other topics.
We offer everyone interested in applying for the course a free 45-minute one-to-one Zoom call with the Lead Tutor. Simply fill in our Application Form embedded below and we will contact you about arranging an informal interview. Alternatively, if you have any questions you can get in touch via Contact Us.
To see some previous Mentoring end-of-year show catalogues and other materials, please see the below links:
EPOCH 2023/2024 - Mentoring Instagram page
PULSE 2022/2023
RHIZOME (short film), 2021/2022
PANDEMONIUM (short film), 2020/2021
XVI 2019
AQUARIUM 2018
RAW RICH 2017
CANOPY 2016
COLLIDER 2015
SHOWROOM 2014
To view our other Year Long Courses, please click here.
We now have a new Toby O'Brien Foundation Bursary for one successful applicant to be awarded a place on the Mentoring Programme with all fees covered. The award also covers two nights of accommodation for each of the sessions if the successful applicant lives outside of West Cornwall. See the Toby O'Brien Foundation Page.
Applications for the Mentoring Programme are open throughout the year.
