Please note we will be doing a new call for entries for our 2019 program in the coming months. 

We’ve been dropping hints about this, and now we can come out and say it properly. Following a survey we ran last year, it’s clear that the one thing you lot are most keen on is more mentoring. Suits us: here at TBI we swear by the value of mentoring. So we’re super stoked to announce the launch of The Big Idea Mentoring in the Arts Programme!

Our plan is to start in Auckland and Northland (for reasons which will become clear), get things humming and then to roll it out across the rest of Aotearoa. So, if you’re in Auckland and you reckon you could benefit from a bit of mentoring from someone who’s been around the block once or twice, here’s what you need to know.

The first round will open with 10 mentors and it will run for six months. Anyone in the arts can apply! You could be an arts organisation or a practitioner - painter, a writer, a producer, as long as you’ve got a legit claim to the creative sector, and a vision for how you can grow.

If you think you’re up for this, get us an application before August 26. The web form will step you through a few questions about who you are and where you’re headed. The most important thing is to think about the kind of mentoring relationship you’d like, and exactly what you’d like to get from it over the six months that it will run.

Our mentoring panel will assess your application on its demonstration of your potential to benefit from the programme. In addition, we need to make sure that there’s a mentor available who can provide the kind of advice you’re looking for. After we’ve done that, we expect we’ll have to make some hard choices, in the likely scenario that we’re over subscribed.

Once we’ve made the selections, we will hold an orientation session in September to kick the program off where you’ll meet the rest of the crew and familiarise yourself with the next six months’ trajectory. Networking with others in the programme means there will be lots of opportunity for cross-pollination. We’ll also introduce you to some sweet software which will help you stay in touch with your mentor in a way that makes the most of your mentor/mentee relationship.

Click here to get to the application form. The cost to be part of the programme is $175+gst. Applications close on 26 August 2018. If you have any questions, send them to chrissy.irvine@thebigidea.co.nz.

We are fortunate enough to have Foundation North believe in us enough to fund this initiative (we happen to think they are rather wonderful). Foundation North - as the name suggests - can only fund activities north of a line between Port Waikato Head to the Firth of Thames: check out the map below. If you live on the green shaded bit, you can apply. Our apologies to the Coromandelites.

Specifically, the area is north of a line following the Waikato River to the Whangamarino River, then along the Whangamarino River, before following the Mangatangi Stream to where it adjoins Mangatangi Road. The boundary then runs from the corner of Monument and Miranda Roads straight to Miranda. Their region covers all areas north of this, up to Cape Reinga and including the islands in the Hauraki Gulf. It excludes the Coromandel Peninsula.

We have also collaborated with the Mentoring Foundation to bring this programme to life.  And we owe a debt of gratitude to the Tindall Foundation, who also supported us with this pilot.