Mentoring Information

Our mentoring programme

Arts Emergency provides 16-18 year olds with free mentoring, support and community to help them explore a creative career they’re passionate about.

Mentees get a year of 1:1 support from a trained, volunteer mentor who has experience of the creative or cultural industries. Our mentors provide information, advice and guidance, supporting young people’s next steps after compulsory education; school or college.

The mentoring programme is available to young people living in Greater Manchester, London and Merseyside. We engage underrepresented and under-resourced young people who most need the support of an Arts Emergency mentor.

As part of our young community, young people can access networking and development opportunities until their 26th birthday.

In 2025, 95% of mentees believed they could achieve their creative ambitions. You can read our 2025 Impact Report here. 

Registration to mentor in 2027

Mentor registration is now open and will close on Friday 4th September. 

We aim to register at least 450 volunteer mentors for 2027, so that we can match more than 300 mentoring pairs.

We’re especially keen to engage volunteers 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 NEED to register more volunteer mentors in Merseyside!

We are particularly interested in mentors with experience in the following career areas: 

• Animation
• Architecture & Interior Design
• Gaming
• Fashion Design

If you need any support with completing your registration form, please email: mentoring@arts-emergency.org.

Who are our mentors?

Together, we are a people-powered movement building a living network of artists, thinkers, and activists to nurture and empower young people across the country, and support them to play an active part in their culture.

Our volunteer mentors are friendly and passionate, patient and reliable. They are able to give up a minimum of an hour a month to provide 1:1 support to a young person. 

Most have studied an arts or humanities subject at university or have worked in the creative and cultural industries. They come from all walks of life, from all over the country, and the world - but are mostly living or working in the regions we deliver our mentoring programme (Greater Manchester, London and Merseyside). 

Mentors represent career areas across the creative and cultural industries, in different job roles and at different points in their careers (see list of career areas below). 

All of our mentors are trained by us and supported by our dedicated mentoring team. All of our mentors share our vision and uphold our Code of Conduct. 

What do mentors do? 

Mentors provide information, advice and guidance, share their skills, experience and knowledge, encourage mentees to access new opportunities and networks, act as a positive role model, support goal setting, provide a non-judgemental space, build confidence and celebrate success. 

Mentors commit to supporting a young person for 12 months from January via monthly mentoring meetings. Mentoring meetings usually take place in-person, always in an appropriate public space (for example, a coffee shop, library, or arts organisation). Although we do have some mentoring pairs who meet online. 

Mentors inform their regional mentoring officer how their mentoring meetings are going via monthly mentor reports. 

How do we support mentors? 

All of our mentoring pairs are supported by a dedicated regional mentoring officer who provide regular check-in opportunities and a personalised response to all mentor reports.

Our mentors:

• receive a mentor handbook and access to resources and training opportunities
• receive a monthly newsletter and mentor bulletins
• are invited to regular, in-person and online, mentor meet-ups so that you can meet other mentors, expand your network and build community. 
• can be connected to members of our network for additional information, advice and guidance that help you support your mentee
• are reimbursed travel costs incurred via public transport
• will receive a response to any and all safeguarding concerns within one working day

Mentor training

All first-time mentors must attend a mentor training event. We can only match trained volunteer mentors with a mentee. 

Mentor training events welcome and induct our newest, volunteer mentors. We'll cover mentoring with Arts Emergency, how to support young people, and keeping young people safe.

Mentor training is delivered by the Arts Emergency mentoring team. We’ll answer any questions you might have about mentoring and supporting a young person.

If you have mentored with us before you can always join another mentor training event if you want a refresher.

Matching mentoring pairs

We aim to match each young person to the most appropriate mentor. We hand-match mentoring pairs based on combined interests, experience, location and needs, using the information mentors provide in their registration form.

We pay attention to the young person’s interests, aptitudes, and  any special educational needs. If a young person’s interest is in writing, we would try to match them with a writer. 

Unfortunately, we are unable to match all trained mentors. We train more mentors than we have young people because it allows us to make the best possible match for every young person. 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 mentors and mentees being informed of their match by the winter break, in December. 

The mentoring year starts in January with 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. 

Introduction events provide mentoring pairs the chance to introduce themselves, learn more about their mentor, swap contact details, schedule their next meeting, and network with other professionals, supported by Arts Emergency’s mentoring team. 

Keeping young people safe

Arts Emergency has a Designated Safeguarding Team, trained by the NSPCC. All of our staff team and volunteers are trained and DBS checked. You can access our safeguarding policy here.

Arts Emergency works with partner organisations to share information and pass on any safeguarding concerns. Parents/guardians/carers of young people are informed about the mentoring programme. 

Mentoring pairs are made aware that in-person mentoring meetings must take place in an appropriate public space, and are advised how to safely conduct meetings online. Mentoring meetings are monitored via mentor reports and regular check-ins with mentees. 

All mentors are trained to recognise signs of abuse and report any disclosures or concerns. All mentors complete reference checks, an enhanced DBS check, and uphold our Code of Conduct. 

Career areas

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

*This list is not exhaustive, if your area of expertise is not on this list, that doesn't mean you can't volunteer to mentor!

Who do we support? 

We support young people, aged 16 - 18, who are at school, college, or taking the first steps in their career. We partner with sixth forms, further education colleges and other referral partners to find the young people who could most benefit from our support. 

We look for young people who are curious, committed and eligible for support. All of the young people we support complete an application form and participate in an interview with our mentoring team. 

Young people are underrepresented in the creative and cultural industries and under-resourced in their local communities. 

In 2026: 

• 71% of mentees are from a lower socioeconomic background
• 52% of mentees are from an ethnic minority background
• 38% of mentees have special educational needs or are living with a disability

What does mentoring do?

Young people are able to make better informed choices as they navigate higher education, vocational training, and early careers in a safe and supportive environment. 

Already in 2026:

• 90% of mentees have more knowledge of routes into the creative and cultural industries, 
• 83% of mentees have more experience and understanding of the creative and cultural industries,
• 90% of mentees have more confidence in articulating their skills, strengths and talents.

We make this happen through programmes that connect, develop, and empower young people to live out their creative ambitions. 

For more information, questions or queries, or support with completing your registration form, please email: mentoring@arts-emergency.org