ScreenSkills Mentoring Network to award £130,000 for mentoring programmes

The ScreenSkills Mentoring Network is applying the lessons of lockdown communication to new collaborations by encouraging organisations to facilitate more inclusive mentoring partnerships. This has been made possible through use of virtual meetings over the past year.

Just over £130,000 is being made available to support new mentoring partners to reach under-represented groups with a stipulation that organisations applying for support commit to a minimum of 50% of their mentees being based outside London and the South East.

The mentoring team give support to organisations and companies to run their own mentoring programmes by providing free training, consultancy and help matching mentoring pairs with  funding from the BFI, awarding National Lottery funds as part of its Future Film Skills strategy. Mentoring is seen as a powerful tool to support building a more inclusive workforce.

Jane Saunders, Mentoring Programme manager, said: “Location does not need to be a barrier to a mentoring partnership being successful, especially now that people have become more used to holding meetings virtually. This has been a tenet of our own programme and we are now asking partners to encourage more, too.”

The ScreenSkills Mentoring Network has previously supported mentoring programmes run by Scottish Documentary Institute, BEATS, BECTU Cymru and SOUL Festival.

The network operates a system of volunteer mentors. Funding can be used for a range of things, including project management activities, marketing, training and organising activities between mentors and mentees.

Organisations can submit an initial expression of interest form for mentoring funding until noon on Thursday 6 May 2021 via this link.