Skip to content

Registration to be an Arts Emergency mentor in 2026 is now open!

Sign up today
Donate

Become a mentor

Registration to be a mentor in 2026 is now open! Arts Emergency mentors support young people in Greater Manchester, London and Merseyside who are interested in the creative and cultural industries and are taking their first steps out of compulsory education.

Become a mentor by completing our registration form at the bottom of this page. 

Deadline: Monday 29 September 2025

Once you complete the form you will be invited to attend a mentor training event. Mentor training will take place throughout October, in-person and online. First-time mentors need to attend a mentor training event to be matched with a mentee.

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 and cultural industries. 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 (usually in-person) in Greater Manchester, London or Merseyside. Occasionally we will pair young people with mentors remotely.
  • What do they do? Mentors provide information, advice and guidance, share their skills, experience and knowledge to support young people in understanding their first steps out of compulsory education. They provide insight in  a creative, academic, or cultural field. Mentoring 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 patience to work to get your mentee to come out of their shell and develop the confidence and 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! We're aiming to get at least 450 volunteer applications with a view to match 300 pairs in 2026 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 background, LGBTQIA+ 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. Before matching, we ask all volunteers to agree to a Code of Conduct and provide referees which we can contact for a character reference.

Career Areas

Below is a list of the areas mentors might have experience in:

Art & Design

  • Architecture & Interior Design
  • Crafts
  • Fashion Design
  • Graphic Design
  • Industrial Design
  • Photography
  • Visual Arts


Performance

  • Comedy
  • Dance
  • Film & TV (on-screen)
  • Music
  • Theatre (on-stage)


Media & Screen

  • Animation
  • Broadcast Journalism
  • Film & TV (off-screen)
  • Gaming
  • Radio & Podcasting
  • Theatre (off-stage)


Writing & the Humanities

  • Academia & Research
  • Creative Writing
  • Politics & Activism
  • Print Journalism
     

Creative Roles & the Cultural Sector

  • Advertising & Marketing
  • Arts Administration
  • Cultural Education & Engagement
  • Galleries
  • Heritage
  • Libraries & Archives
  • Publishing

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 mentoring pairs based on your combined interests, experience, location and needs, using the information you provide in the registration 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 initially  we will contact you if we do have a suitable match further down the line or when we next recruit young people.

Matching takes place throughout November with mentoring starting in January.

Training

All first-time mentors need to attend a mentor training event. Our training events give essential insights into how our mentoring programme works and all the tools you need to provide amazing support to your mentee. 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.

Refresher training
If you have mentored with us before you can always join another training session if you want a recap.

Email us
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

Help us spread the word

Whether or not you're planning on signing up to mentor yourself, you can help a young person get an amazing match by sharing our call for volunteers far and wide. Whether you post on social media, have a conversation with a friend, or platform our call for volunteers another way - every single shout out makes a difference.

Share on Bluesky Share on Instagram Share on LinkedIn

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 2026.

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!
  • London (RCA Battersea, London): Thurs 09 Oct, 18:30-20:30
  • Merseyside (Everyman Theatre, Liverpool): Thurs 16 Oct, 18:30-20:30
  • Greater Manchester (venue tbc, Manchester): Weds 22 Oct, 18:30-20:30
  • Online: Tues 21 Oct, 18:30-20:30
  • Online: Thurs 23 Oct, 18:30-20:30
  • Online, Sat 25 Oct, 10:30-12:30
  • Online, Tues 28 Oct, 12:00-14:00
  • Online, Weds 29 Oct, 18:30-20:30
  • Online, Thurs 30 Oct, 18:30-20:30
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.
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).
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

Can we use cookies?

We use cookies to find out how you’re using our website, which allows us to keep improving it to give you the best possible experience.

Read cookie policy