AMA mentoring scheme

Since April 2000 we have devoted considerable resources to the training of mentors and mentees. We have found that there is a direct link between trained participants and successful mentoring relationships.

 

For this reason, you can only join the scheme if you agree to participate in a mentoring training day.

 

Having a mentor will build your self-confidence and increase your motivation through sharing experiences and getting one-to-one feedback. Your mentor will use their knowledge and experience to support you in developing your skills as an arts marketer, identifying goals, opportunities to learn and your own solutions to overcome issues at work.

Some mentors can be a source of useful contacts and provide you with advice and help in career progression. This can be extremely useful in a field like arts marketing. Having a mentor isn’t about having someone telling you the answers and giving instructions: think of it instead as bespoke, long-term professional development, where you identify your needs and your mentor helps you meet them. 

 

'Now I am a mentor, I can understand why people were so generous with their time to me, because there’s no better feeling than having a mentee...the feeling of satisfaction, I really couldn’t describe to you.'

Being a mentor is a challenging, stimulating and hugely rewarding experience. Mentoring can give you a wide range of new skills, insights and perspectives and it can boost your confidence and self-development.

You can develop coaching and counselling skills that are transferable to your personal and professional life. You can gain new perspectives on your own work and management style and an external viewpoint on key issues and challenges in the sector. Mentoring can also provide an opportunity for stimulating discussions and insights into other art forms and organisations. Successful mentors usually have a genuine interest in helping others develop and get a great satisfaction out of sharing their own learning and experiences. 

 

If you would like to be a mentor, you should have at least five years professional work experience. If you have already taken part in a previous AMA mentoring scheme as a mentee, you need to attend a training day before becoming a mentor.

Download the information pack to learn more about the scheme, the matching process, costs and support. Then decide whether you would like to participate as a mentee or a mentor; as a mentor you should have at least 5 years professional work experience.

 

We ask that you attend a training session to gain the skills to get the most out of your mentoring sessions. The next training day will take place on Tuesday 30 April from 11.00am to 4.00pm at the NCVO in London. We are planning to run another online mentoring training day in October 2013.

 

After an initial training session, participants will be matched with a suitable mentor/mentee within a short travelling distance from them. The mentoring itself will take place face to face wherever possible.

After attending the mentoring training session, you will be asked to fill in an online matching survey so that we can find the best possible mentor/mentee for you.  Both the mentor and mentee have an input into this process and the relationship only starts if both are happy for it to do so.

 

Once matched, a mentor and mentee usually meet up once every two months for between one and two hours. The mentee would usually be expected to travel to meet the mentor.

 

The average length of a productive mentoring relationship is around eighteen months, but you can continue your mentoring relationship beyond this if you want to.

 

As with all relationships, some mentoring relationships will be successful and others will not. If a mentoring relationship is not going to make the course, then the AMA will help those participants to understand why, and if possible, re-match them.