‘Rationalising’ your goals

Creative Mentor Jilly Evans brings us the next instalment of our Creative Mentors’ training blog.

Jilly Evans, visual artist, SCEP Creative Mentor

Anna and Matt were unlucky enough to get COVID, so Craig stepped in and taught us all about safeguarding, as always there is so much to learn. Talking about ‘disclosures’ reminded me of knitting/stitching workshops I’d run and how conversation seems to flow more easily when we’re all engaged in creative activity. Whilst all the safeguarding training is vital, I was glad to be reminded that our role is to work on the development of the child.

Craig gave us an example of how a disclosure might happen by playing the part of a young person whose Dad, Mr Pineapple, was clearly not a very nice individual. We had to note down key points from the disclosure, as well as listening. I realised that I also need to make notes to ensure I capture all the relevant information as it’s crucial to have all the facts.

Craig gave us a top tip, some confidential documents such as a contact information form cannot be taken home, they need to be kept securely in a locked container, but your car can be a locked container, who knew!

EPOPS Tag cross stitch by Jilly Evans

The following week Matt and Anna, recovered from COVID, taught us all about coaching, goal setting and active listening. We started the session by sitting, closing our eyes and grounding ourselves in the space. It felt good to sit in the space and become present, to forget about the mad dash that I find myself in every weekday morning to get to work/the studio/ Mentor training anywhere near on time.

We had all been asked to think about a goal or two to share with the group, these included a novel to be written, paintings to be created and studio spaces to be ‘rationalised’ (a fancy word for having a clear out – that was one of mine). In the afternoon we all paired up. Amy and I took turns in being the active listener/coach and the person being coached, swapping roles every few minutes when the timer went off. It felt like we were really getting somewhere and maybe, just maybe my studio may be ‘rationalised’ next year!

Jilly Evans


The Southampton Cultural Education Partnership’s (SCEP) objective is to develop a cohort of Creative Mentors as local role models in Southampton, who will work directly with and inspire Children and Young People, including those from at risk, marginalised backgrounds or NEET (not in employment education or training).

Continue reading ‘Rationalising’ your goals

OPPORTUNITY – Closes 14 Dec: Creative Mentoring Opportunity for Young People

Do you work with children and young people? Do you know a young person who would benefit from having a Creative Mentor

10 people gathered together in white room - 6 Creative Mentoring Scheme participants, SCEP Programme Manager and SoCo Music Project trainers.
SCEP Creative Mentors Scheme, Day One, 11 November 2022

SCEP is offering a mentoring opportunity for six young people (aged 11 to 18) with one of our Creative Mentors, as part of the Better Lives Through Culture Programme

  • One-to-one mentoring for young people from our trained Creative Mentors (early career creatives) from Southampton 
  • Fortnightly mentoring sessions (approximately one to two hours) from January to March 2023 
  • Mentors from a range of backgrounds including Photography, Visual Art, Theatre and Drama, Craft, Textiles, Film, Music, Sound Technology, Spoken Word and Poetry     
  • All Mentors DBS Enhance checked
Continue reading OPPORTUNITY – Closes 14 Dec: Creative Mentoring Opportunity for Young People

Understanding Cultural Capital

How Arts and Culture can enhance Southampton School Curriculums

Connecting Culture, 2021.
A student at Mount Pleasant Junior School, Bevois, Southampton, with their Arts Award Discover certificate.
Connecting Culture Research Project, 2021.
A student at Mount Pleasant Junior School, Bevois, Southampton, with their Arts Award Discover certificate.

The SCEP is a consortium of diverse organisations working together, hosted by the University of Southampton, to nurture creative and cultural education for all children and young people in the City.  

This workshop, held online on Monday 4 July, is part of the SCEP Transition Programme training offer of Southampton Cultural Education Partnership (SCEP), in partnership with Artswork.  

Colleagues listened to five presentations given by cultural leaders and educators from the Cultural Learning Alliance, Mount Pleasant Junior School, The Polygon School, Redbridge Community School and Regents Park Community School, that discussed how they defined cultural capital in their own setting and how we could all work together across Southampton to ensure every child has an arts-rich education that develops their potential.  

Below is the introductory presentation to Cultural Capital. Additionally SCEP Members can view three of the five event presentations via the SCEP Sharepoint Site.*

What is Cultural Capital?  

Sam Cairns, Co-Director, Cultural Learning Alliance 

 *SCEP Membership is free and open to individuals and organisations engaging in cultural education for children and young people in Southampton. For more details and how to join, visit our Members page.

  

SCEP EXPO comes to John Hansard Gallery

Monday 21 November 2022, from 3.30pm

Southampton Cultural Education Partnership will be hosting an open event for those working in education to discover the Cultural Education opportunities Southampton has to offer.

Join Southampton Cultural Education Partnership for socialising, light refreshments and networking at John Hansard Gallery.

This event will bring together cultural organisations, education settings, youth agencies and health professionals to understand the cultural education offer in Southampton.

Refreshments will be provided.


The timetable for the Expo is as follows:

  • 3.30pm SCEP members arrival
  • 4.00pm Teachers, youth agencies and health professionals arrival
  • 4.15pm Talks, networking and gallery viewing
  • 5.30pm end of event

SCEP Members have the option to hold a stall during the Expo. There is limited availability, so early registration is a must. Once all slots have been taken, we will run a waitlist and may release more places closer to the event date.

Many thanks to our SCEP partners at John Hansard Gallery for providing the venue for this event, and our partners at Artswork.

For any further questions, please get in touch with the team at scep@soton.ac.uk.

DEADLINE EXTENDED: CREATIVE MENTOR TRAINING OPPORTUNITY

NEWSFLASH!! After a busy summer and a competitive tendering process we have successful recruited SCEP member SoCo to run the Creative Mentoring Scheme. We recognise a lot of the SCEP organisations have also had a busy summer with full programmes and annual leave over the holiday season. With this in mind we are extending the deadline for applications to the Creative Mentoring programme. The nominating organisation simply needs to complete a few questions on the form. This is a paid CPD opportunity for an early Career Creatives not to be missed.

  • Timescale: October 2022 – March 2023
  • Fee: ÂŁ4,500.00 per mentor
  • Application Deadline: 4 October 5PM
  • Interview Dates:  12/13 October in Southampton

This opportunity is part of Southampton Cultural Education Partnership’s (SCEP) Better Lives Through Culture Programme, in partnership with Artswork.

This is a paid training opportunity open to early career creatives in Southampton to develop mentoring skills and provide 1-2-1 support to young people aged 11 – 18 years.  Successful candidates will be trained as Creative Mentors, developing their mentoring skills, knowledge and experience. Throughout the programme they will be supported to mentor a Southampton-based young person to achieve their goals.

The SCEP’s objective is to develop a cohort of Creative Mentors as local role models in Southampton, who will work directly with and inspire Children and Young People, including those from at risk, marginalised backgrounds or NEET (not in employment education or training).

What being a Creative Mentor involves

Six early career creatives will be trained as Creative Mentors, and mentor a young person over a six-month scheme, guiding them to gain confidence, connections and the advice they need to succeed in their chosen goal/subject/industry. With the support of a Creative Mentor Trainer, mentoring pairs will decide on each young person’s individual goals and work towards achieving them.

Each Mentoring pair will meet over an agreed number of sessions.

What is a Nominating Organisation and how will they support the Creative Mentor

The nominating organisation (person) is a cultural organisation that has a relationship with the early career creative. They simply need to fill in a few sections on a form to complete the application. This will take the nominating organisation 10 -15 minutes.

It is expected that mentoring meetings will be face to face at the nominating organisation, however some remote meetings may be necessary during the course of the programme, as well as email communication between sessions.

Early Career Creatives

This opportunity is open to early career creatives* who would benefit from this training opportunity to develop and grow their skills, knowledge and experience to support a diverse range of young people with their own creative aspirations.

*By early career creative, this means anyone who is at an early stage in their professional creative career. This includes recent school leavers or people who have recently made a career change into the cultural sector/creative industries.

Training

A fee of ÂŁ4,500.00 based on completing 42 days is available for each Creative Mentor.

As part of the Creative Mentoring Training scheme, participants will develop the skills and tools to be an effective mentor and will:

  • work with a trainer to develop their mentoring practice through small group training sessions.
  • Work with and support a young person to develop their own goals over an agreed number of sessions.
  • gain direct experience and transferable skills including coaching, safeguarding and structuring mentoring sessions.

Person Specification

Essential:

  • An early career creative from any art form; including but not limited to visual arts, music, performing arts, written and spoken word, dance, film making and design.
  • Southampton based;
  • Experience of working with young people;
  • Good at problem solving and/or talking through issues;
  • Reliable and committed;
  • A good communicator;
  • Able to provide insight from your personal experience;
  • Willing to undertake a DBS Enhanced check.

Desirable:

  • Experience of supporting another person to develop personal goals. (You will be given training to do this);
  • Experience of working with vulnerable young people.

Timeline for Creative Mentor Scheme

Shortlisting for mentors from 5 October 2022

Interviewing of mentors 12/13 October 2022

Confirmation of outcomes of interviews for Mentors w/c 3 October 2022

Creative Mentor training and programme begins October 2022 – March 2023

Celebration event for Mentors and Mentees April 2023

Nomination Criteria:

  • Nominating cultural organisations must be SCEP members or willing to join the SCEP*
  • Candidates should self-define as early career creatives and have a connection to their nominating  organisation e.g. artist, freelancer, staff member, participant.
  • Nominating cultural organisations must provide a reference for their candidate, please see the section on the form marked ‘Questions for Nominating Organisation’.

* To join the SCEP you must be a Southampton-based cultural and/or educational organisation. For more information email scep@soton.ac.uk

How to apply:

  • CANDIDATE:  Please complete the online form
  • NOMINATING ORGANISATIONS: Please complete the section on this form marked nominating organisation. Or email a word document answering the ‘Questions for Nominating Organisation’  as detailed in the online form to scep@soton.ac.uk stating the name of the candidate at the beginning of the document.
  • DEADLINE: Submit the online application form (And Word document if applicable) by Tuesday 4 October 2022, 5pm
  • INTERVIEWS: To take place in 12/13 October in Southampton

Access Support & General Enquiries

We want to ensure the application process is accessible, and to give everyone the information they need to decide whether they might be suitable. If you require this description or any further information in a different format, or have questions before you apply, please get in touch with Jodie Sadler, Programme Manager, Better Lives Through Culture: J.Sadler@soton.ac.uk please provide a contact telephone number. Please note that queries may not be answered immediately due to the working hours of the team.

We’re especially keen to hear from people who may have shared experience with our mentees, such as people who are Black, Asian or from a minoritised ethnic group, LGTBQIA+ people, disabled people and those who have identified as working class.