Critical analysis by Toni González on mentorship programmes for emerging artists in the cultural sector. Discover why a contact agenda is useless without a strategic framework, and how to optimize resources through senior experience.
In the last year, I have had the opportunity to work on two projects with the objective to support the career development of emerging artists. One at a European scale, Moving Matters (MM), and the other, in Catalonia, in the context of the Pla d’Impuls al Teatre (PIT). Both projects present common elements that deserve analysis and conclusions
Two programmes for professionalization
Both programmes prioritize providing tools to emerging performing arts companies and artists to develop their creative projects professionally, with sustainable results over time. The operation consists of offering the artists an expert professional or mentor to guide them in their development processes. In my case, this involves mobility management, strategic development, or internationalization. In MM, my collaboration had a very clear title: “Business Training”.
The barrier of limited resources: Group and "à la carte" mentorship
As usual in the cultural sector, the lack of economic resources is the main barrier, though not the only one, that complicates deep processes with lasting impact. In this context, projects select imaginative solutions to resolve this obstacle. In the case of MM, the choice was a group mentorship with individualized follow-up. This methodology optimizes scarce resources through three phases: a first group phase dedicated to theory and a common work methodology, a second phase to monitor individual projects, and a final phase of individual sessions. MM understood perfectly that an efficient methodology of collective intelligence also produces excellent results.
In the case of PIT, the process establishes individual mentorships of short duration on diverse topics, using mentors with different specializations. I have defined this last model as "flash mentorships".
Mentorship with a strategic vision
Reducing mentorship time to decrease costs or to resolve very concrete problems implies risks that we must consider and avoid. First, a very short contact with the mentor complicates the development of a strategic framework for the project. Without a global vision that includes previous diagnoses, it is difficult to design projects with a future. A short mentorship without a method is an error; however, a short and structured intervention is efficient to resolve precise problems. The construction of a strategic framework must be the base of every mentorship programme. Without this global vision, assistance remains mere volunteerism.
Strategy VS Contact Agenda
Another error is to confuse a mentor with a person who has a good contact agenda. I have the impression that mentorship programmes grant "mentor credentials", especially in distribution, focused almost exclusively on direct sales tactics and the provision of a wide contact agenda as the primary value.
Although it is relevant to know the markets and their actors, it is an error to believe that companies and artists only need concrete data and contacts. As a consultant with 40 years of experience in the sector, I know that an agenda is useless without a wide and clear vision of the frameworks where distribution operates. The real value of mentorship is not to provide a telephone number, but to teach how to construct a project that can grow sustainably over time. At the same time, it must define with clear criteria where and how the project should project itself.
The real value is not a telephone number, but the criteria to know why and how to use it.
Senior experience
I am concerned that mentorship programmes reduce the participation of consultants with long experience and validated methodologies in favor of younger, tactical profiles. This does not only affect me as a senior consultant; it also sends a contradictory message about the ambition of these programmes. Do we want companies that only know how to "knock on doors", or do we want companies with a solid, strategic business model that also know how to knock on those doors?
As an accredited consultant with a career dedicated to reinforcing the cultural sector, I have the duty to express this concern. Mentorship programmes lose an excellent opportunity when they reject the capacity for analysis and transformation that senior experience provides.
Building from experience
Mentorship programmes are extraordinary tools if they are designed as real structures of accompaniment, and not as simple distributors of contacts. The emerging artistic sector does not need temporary solutions; it needs solid foundations to consolidate viable cultural companies with international projection. Optimizing public resources requires validated methodologies and long-term strategic visions. Only then will we transform volunteerism into cultural sustainability. I remain at your disposal to debate and contrast these opinions through my usual contact channels.