Rise secures funding from ScreenSkills to add a new mentoring programme

Rise, the award-winning advocacy group for women in the broadcast media technology sector, has announced the launch of its second UK mentoring programme in 2021, the ScreenSkills Rise Mentoring Programme for women working across the sector, after securing funding from ScreenSkills. 

This programme, supported by ScreenSkills as part of the BFI Future Film Skills programme using funds from the National Lottery, will support Rises’ 2021/22 expansion and growth of its Mentoring Schemes within the broadcast technology arena. The partnership with ScreenSkills enables Rise to deliver another six month Mentoring Programme supporting women in the screen industries (film, television, VFX, animation and games), which will run from September 2021 until February 2022.

The new ScreenSkills Rise Mentoring Programme will support another 25 women based in the UK, providing mentees with a range of range of support*, including one-to-one mentoring contact with their pairing, monthly group meetings, facilitated peer-to-peer support and access to networking and workshops. 

Applications for all schemes open today and close on Friday 06 August 2021. Applications are welcome from women who are working full time, part time or freelance and of any age group above the age of 18.

The ScreenSkills Rise Mentoring Programme is a free, six-month programme to support women working in, or aspiring to work in the broadcast technology media sector. Past mentees have come from a variety of job roles including engineering, technical operations, sales, marketing and business development.  

The 2021 mentoring programme sees a variety of experienced broadcast sector industry representatives, at a diversity of levels of seniority, ready to offer expertise, knowledge and guidance to our mentees.  

Jane Saunders, ScreenSkills mentoring manager, said: “Rise provides valuable mentoring programmes to women in the broadcast media technology sector in particular those in engineering and technical roles, and a partnership with Rise is an excellent fit to ScreenSkills commitment to investing in developing skills and talent across this sector where there are shortages.”  

Saunders added, “ScreenSkills is delighted to be working with Rise to offer mentoring and support from incredible industry professionals, providing these women with important insights into aspects of the UK screen industry as they prepare for their career and make a mark on the industry.” 

Carrie Wootten, managing director, Rise said: “We are delighted to be partnering with ScreenSkills and embarking on this new mentoring series, supporting young, talented woman as they take their next steps towards building a career in the UK screen industry.”  

Wootten added:  “I would like to thank ScreenSkills for their incredible support and generosity which has enabled us to add another six month Mentoring Scheme to the 2021/22 Programme which is needed now more than ever to support young women during these times.” 

To find out more about The ScreenSkills Rise Mentoring Programme, visit here.