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Become a mentor

Arts Emergency mentors support young people in Manchester, Merseyside and London who are interested in the creative and cultural industries in taking their first steps out of college.

In order to become an Arts Emergency mentor, you will need to complete an application form during our open registration period - now until end of September!

Once you complete the form, we'll check if you've worked with us before and what training you might need to get started. We will run training sessions and then begin to match pairs.

If you're not sure about mentoring, but want to join our movement, sign up to our Network for lots of ad hoc opportunities to help support and advise young people.

Video edited by Lilla Nyeki

Should I be a mentor?

Our volunteers are reliable, passionate and warm. Most have studied an arts or humanities subject at university or have worked in the creative industries for over four years. We match mentor pairs based on their shared interests, experiences and geographical location.

  • Who's it for? People who are happy to be paired with a 16-18 year old for a 12-month period, meeting once a month from January each year (normally in-person) in Manchester, Merseyside, and London. Occasionally we will pair young people with mentors remotely, and we are hoping to expand into new regions, so you can absolutely sign up in advance of us working in your region.
  • What do they do? Mentors support young people in understanding their next steps out of compulsory education. They provide a friendly ear and a inside perspective on a creative, academic, or cultural field. Pairs meet once a month for about an hour. Mentoring can be flexible around your commitments. During busy periods e.g. exams, you may not meet every month, but mentor pairs tend to make up for it the following month.
  • Considerations: 16-18 year olds have a lot going on! You may need to work to get your mentee to come out of their shell and develop the language to talk to you not as a teacher, or a family member, but as a professional friend.
  • Number of mentors needed: This is our flagship programme and we need as many mentors as we can get! We'll be aiming to match 300 pairs in 2025 and while not everyone who signs up will be matched every year, everyone will be trained and offered additional development opportunities.
2 people sitting on a bench, one is wearing a yellow jumper, black skirt and a headscarf the other has blond hair and is wearing a grey top
A 2022 mentoring pair at the celebration event at The Place, London. Photo by Rob Greig

Mentor traits

Our mentors are all unique, but they do share some similar traits. Our volunteers are committed to being:

  • proactive communicators
  • able to relate well to people
  • good at problem solving or talking through issues
  • reliable and dedicated
  • able to provide insight from their personal experiences

We’re especially keen to engage mentors who may have shared experiences with our mentees, such as people from an ethnic minority backgrounds, LGTBQIA+ people, disabled people, and those who have identified as working class.

We ask our volunteers to uphold values of being bold, optimistic and community-focussed. We will ask matched mentors to agree to a Code of Conduct and provide referees we can contact for a character reference.

Career Areas

Our mentors usually have a good understanding of a creative industry, either having worked in that industry for 3+ years and/or having studied it at university level. However, this isn't a requirement, as we know great mentors without these traits. Below is a list of the areas they might have experience in:

  • Academia & Research
  • Advertising & Marketing
  • Animation
  • Architecture
  • Arts Administration
  • Comedy
  • Crafts
  • Creative Writing
  • Cultural Education & Engagement
  • Dance
  • Fashion
  • Film & TV
  • Galleries
  • Gaming
  • Graphic Design
  • Heritage
  • Industrial Design
  • Interior Design
  • Journalism
  • Libraries & Archives
  • Museums
  • Music
  • Photography
  • Politics & Activism
  • Publishing
  • Radio & Podcasting
  • Theatre
  • Visual Arts

If your area of expertise is not on this list, that doesn't mean you can't volunteer - we are always very happy to expand!

Matching

We hand-match pairs based on your combined interests, experience, location and needs, and we use the information you provide in the form below. We train more mentors than we have young people because it allows us to make the best possible match for every young person. This does mean that we are unable to match everyone who signs up. However, even if you are not matched in the initial rounds, we will contact you if we do have a suitable match further down the line or when we next recruit young people.

We usually undertake matching in November for a January start.

Training

Our 'core' training sessions provide essential insight into how our mentoring programmes work and all the tools you need to provide amazing support to your young person. In this training session you’ll learn transferable skills about mentoring, coaching, safeguarding and some guidance on structuring sessions, accountability and goal setting. We’ll also answer any questions you might have about supporting a young person.

Supplementary training

Throughout the year we'll provide opportunities for you to attend extra training sessions to enhance your capabilities as a mentor.

Retraining & Safeguarding

You can always join another training session if you want a recap, and we'll release an updated safeguarding video each year which we require all returning volunteers to watch.

Email us
"You just have to throw yourself into it and I think those [impostor syndrome] fears will dissipate and you will feel that you're part of something bigger, something meaningful, and you're truly making a lasting, lasting impact."
Cory, 2021 mentor

Register now

Register as a Mentor!

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Prefill

Checking you're the right person
You are using a unique link associated with the following person. Please do not fill out this form if this is not you. Click here to use a fresh form.
New Application
Thanks for your interest in volunteering as an Arts Emergency mentor. By filling out this form, you'll be signalling your availability to mentor a young person in the future. Once you've applied, you'll be able to simply update your profile year on year.
If you're already in our Network or have trained or been a mentor before, we can supply you with a unique link to make this application process easier. Reach out to us at mentoring@arts-emergency.org if this is you!
Welcome back!
It should be straight-forward for you to update your details in this form and add yourself into our pool of mentors for 2025.

Please read through the fields to make sure all your details are up to date. If there's anything missing, please fill them in fresh! You will have to add your contact information again as this is protected data which we do not wish to supply over the internet.
Your Profile for Matching

Confident Some experience No experience

Career Areas
We know that good mentors can support a young person in exploring concepts and industries beyond their own expertise. We do, however, try to match young people with volunteers who have experience in the young person's areas of interest. Which career areas do you have experience in?
(Tick as many as apply)
Art & Design

Performance

Media & Screen

Writing & the Humanities

Creative Roles & the Cultural Sector
Career & Education







Additional Optional Information for Matching
Our young people can register a preference for being matched with a volunteer who has specific protected characteristics. While we do not otherwise use demographic information in matching, we recognise that some young people may prefer someone with similar (or different!) experiences to their own.

If you would be happy for us to use this personal data as part of matching, please answer the questions below. Otherwise you can choose to skip these questions.
All of these questions are optional, so if you would prefer not to say, simply leave the question blank.



To keep your data secure, we do not provide any identifiable information using this form, so please fill out these fields in full.
Your Contact Details
How should we refer to you? e.g. he/him, she/her, they/them, xe/xem, ze/hir
DBS Checks
We work with a trusted organisation to process criminal record (DBS) checks on all volunteers who will be interacting with a young person under 18 years old or with someone over 18 who has been identified as having a higher risk of abuse (e.g. they have additional support needs).

If such a match is made, we will reach out to you to begin this checking process. We will require an Arts Emergency DBS completed within the last two years, or a DBS from another organisation that has been completed within the last year.
References
For all potential mentors, we require character references (regardless of the age of your match).

Please supply the details of two people who can attest to your suitability to be a mentor, and work with young people. Your referees should not be family members.

We will contact referees after training and hold the references on file for five years. If you've mentored with us during this time, we can become your reference for this purpose. We will only be able to match volunteers with approved references.
Reference 1


Reference 2


Equality and Diversity Monitoring
Arts Emergency is committed to being an equitable and supportive community. To help us track our progress, please complete this section.

Your information is anonymous and kept strictly confidential, it will only be used to provide an analysis of our work (this data is not available for matching purposes). These questions are required, but all have a 'Prefer Not To Say' option.
If you are considering how to answer, use the sex recorded on one of your legal documents such as a birth certificate, Gender Recognition Certificate, or passport. There is a later question on gender identity. This asks if the gender you identify with is different from your sex registered at birth. If it is different, you can then record your gender identity.
The Equality Act 2010 defines a disability as a physical or mental impairment that has a substantial and long-term (i.e. lasting or expected to last 12 months or more) adverse effect on a person’s ability to carry out normal, day-to-day activities. 
This includes if you have: cancer, HIV, or multiple sclerosis; a visual impairment (i.e. you are certified blind, severely sight impaired, sight impaired, or partially sighted); a progressive condition such as Alzheimer’s disease motor neurone disease, muscular dystrophy, or Parkinson’s; a severe disfigurement; and/or a form of neurodivergence (e.g. ADHD, autism, dyslexia, and dyspraxia).

Accessibility

If you have a disability, a learning disability, or special access needs, you can provide more details below to help us provide better support to you during our programmes. Letting us know about this information does not affect our selection process.

Code of Conduct

Arts Emergency is based on mutual respect and kindness and we ask that you treat young people, Arts Emergency staff, and other volunteers with the care and dignity they deserve. Any volunteer must follow our Code of Conduct. The principles are:

1. prioritising the welfare of young people

2. providing a safe environment for young people

3. following our principles, policies and procedures

4. staying within the law at all times

5. modelling good behaviour for young people to follow

6. challenging all unacceptable behaviour and reporting any breaches

7. reporting all concerns about abusive behaviour, following our safeguarding and child protection procedures


We encourage you to read the Code of Conduct in full, as submission of this form constitutes an acceptance of the guidelines.

If you have any questions about the information above, please contact info@arts-emergency.org

Data & Communications 

Information collected in this form is used for the purposes of matching young people with the most suitable volunteers. We also collect equality and diversity monitoring data which is kept strictly confidential and is reported on in summarised form only. You can read our full Privacy Policy on our website at arts-emergency.org/privacy-policy.

Marketing Communications

In addition to essential communication about Arts Emergency programmes, we'd like to send you information about our fundraising appeals and other marketing materials. Please let us know if you'd be interested in hearing from us on these topics.

Support our work
40% of Arts Emergency mentors also make monthly donations, it’s an easy and practical way to share your privilege. Just £5 a month helps fund programmes that transform a young person's life chances.

Thank you so much! Your support will ensure people from all backgrounds can make a breakthrough in their dream creative industry, and enrich all our lives in doing so.

You will be redirected to our monthly donation form when you press 'Submit'
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