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Become a 2027 Arts Emergency mentor

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Become a mentor

Registration to become an Arts Emergency mentor in 2027 is now open. Deadline: Friday 4th September

Arts Emergency mentors volunteer to support under-resourced, young people living in Greater Manchester, London and Merseyside, who are interested in exploring careers in the creative and cultural industries. 

In 2027, we will welcome more than 300 young people to our flagship mentoring programme, all needing a mentor to help them thrive in creativity and culture. 

Video edited by Lilla Nyeki

Step 1: Register to become a mentor

  • Complete the registration form at the bottom of this page. 
     
  • Tell us about yourself, your skills and experiences, and why you would like to mentor. We use this information to help match you with a mentee.
A mostly yellow illustration of two people admiring some graphic design.

Step 2: Attend a mentor training event.

  • After registering to become a mentor, you will be invited to attend a mentor training event, in-person or online.  
     
  • Once you have attended mentor training, we will contact the references you have provided us with during registration.
     
  • When you are trained and when we have your references back, you will be ready to match with a mentee in 2027. 

Step 3: Matching mentoring pairs

  • If we are able to match you with a mentee, our mentoring team will be in touch to share details with you. You will then be asked to confirm your mentee match. 
     
  • You will then be invited to an introduction event, in-person or online, where you will meet your mentee for the first time, along with other mentoring pairs in your region. 
     
  • If you are matched with a mentee under the age of 18, you will need to complete a DBS check (criminal record check) before you can be introduced. 

Please note: This is not an application process, if you complete all of the steps listed above you will be ready to match with a mentee in 2027. Unfortunately, we are unable to match all trained mentors.

Get in touch if you want more information
Mentoring Pair 2026 Charlie and Luke
I’ve gained confidence in my knowledge and my experience. Looking back at my journey from school to now makes me realise how far I’ve come. You never stop suffering from imposter syndrome so it’s been a good reminder to myself that I do know stuff and have insights to share.
Claire, 2024 mentor

Register now

Register as a Mentor!

Prefill

Application Checks
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!
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 or get in touch with us at mentoring@arts-emergency.org
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 2027.

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 we don't want to share your current information 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
Knowing information about your career and education can help us match you with young people who are looking for more information about specific occupations or training routes. Please provide any relevant information here and leave fields blank if they're not applicable.






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 questions blank and click 'Next page'.



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
If you'd also like to provide an alternate way of getting in contact with you, e.g. your work email, please add it here!
Mentor Training
All of Arts Emergency’s volunteer mentors have to attend our Mentor Training before they can be considered for matching. Mentor Training covers mentoring with Arts Emergency, how to support young people, and keeping young people safe.

You should receive an email immediately after submitting this form where you can book onto one of these mentor training events. If you can attend the in-person sessions, we strongly recommend it!
  • Greater Manchester (Venue TBC): Weds 09 Sept, 18:30-20:30
  • Merseyside (Venue TBC): Tues 15 Sept, 18:30-20:30
  • London (Venue TBC): Weds 23 Sept, 18:30-20:30
  • Online: Tues 29 Sept, 12:00-14:00
  • Online: Tues 29 Sept, 18:30-20:30
  • Online, Thurs 01 Oct, 18:30-20:30
  • Online, Weds 07 Oct, 18:30-20:30
  • Online, Sat 10 Oct, 10:00-12:00
References
For all potential mentors, we require character references (regardless of the age of your match). We will only be able to match volunteers with satisfactory references.

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 you attend Mentor Training. We will hold the references on file for three years. If you mentor with us during this time, Arts Emergency will become your reference beyond then (i.e. we won't need to repeat this process).
Reference 1


Reference 2


DBS Checks
Our records show that your Arts Emergency DBS has expired / will expire before the next mentoring cohort, and so we will have to complete a new DBS check on you. We will reach out to you to begin this process if we find a match for you over the next few months.

We work with a trusted organisation (APCS) 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). 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.

If such a match is made, we will reach out to you to begin this checking process. This will likely happen in November / December.

That's absolutely fine. We will need to see your documents in-person before your first mentoring meeting. We'll be in touch about arranging this in November/December time if we find you a match.

Accessibility

If you have a disability, are disabled, or have any 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.

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.
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).
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.
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 mentoring@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.

Support our work
20% of Arts Emergency mentors in 2025 make monthly donations. Just £2 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'.

Contact Information

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