Mentoring program of the Career Service
The aim of the Folkwang Mentoring Program is to give students concrete insights into artistic and/or academic fields of activity outside the university towards the end of their studies and to network them with art and cultural institutions as well as the independent scene.
In addition to regular meetings between mentors and mentees for a total of two semesters, the program includes attending Career Service events on topics such as KSK, artistic self-esteem, fee ideas, media skills, etc. as well as general networking meetings. Mentoring is interdisciplinary and cross-disciplinary.
The regular and open exchange with the mentors from the arts and culture sector serves as supervision and support for self-reflection with the aim of sharpening one's own artist profile, getting to know different career and employment models, opening doors or taking steps towards starting a business.
In addition, the conditions and challenges of (artistic) freelancing are to be highlighted in good time and, if necessary, alternative career models are to be presented so that the professional future can be shaped more realistically and concretely and the appearance as an artist can be more self-confident.
Further goals of the mentoring programme are to reduce the mentees' fears about the future, strengthen their resilience and promote their organizational skills through the exchange in tandem, the events from the Career Service and the network.
Mentees are expected to show a high level of initiative and self-reflection as well as the desire and continuous willingness to work on artistic and professional goals.
Openness towards the tandem partners in dealing with their own issues, good German language skills and regular participation in meetings and events organized by the Career Service, including the necessary preparation and follow-up work, are required.
Time frame:
The mentoring program runs for a total of 2 semesters and starts in the winter semester 2022/2023, the exact date will be announced.
The individual mentoring meetings will take place once a month, either digitally or in person, depending on the individual agreement of the tandem partners.
Active participation in a certain number of events on various Career Service topics is mandatory.
There will be a general network meeting every 3 months.
This program is aimed at Bachelor's students from the 4th/5th semester and Master's students from the 1st semester.
We would like to thank the Gesellschaft der Freunde und Förderer der Folkwang Universität der Künste e.V. for supporting this project financially!