Becoming an ACED Mentor

Are you an experienced creative professional working in the arts, culture or heritage sector who would like to contribute your knowledge and expertise to help support young people (18 – 30) in or near East Devon? 

We are looking to fill these volunteer roles with active or retired arts professionals who: 

  • understand the challenges and opportunities associated with their specialised industry 
  • know the value of impartial advice 
  • offer sector experience or a specialism 

Would you be willing to give some time to make a difference? Up to 6 hours of mentoring over a 6-month period (March – August 2024 or/and Oct – March 2025). 

The rewards of becoming an ACED Mentor:

Being an ACED Mentor is a voluntary position and brings many benefits: 

  • Training – in the form of a two-hour training workshop and one hour reflection workshop
  • Professional growth – adding mentorship to your skillset as well as active listening, organisational, problem-solving and leadership skills 
  • Networking – be part of the start of a significant new chapter for the ACED community and benefit from peer-to-peer support 
  • Personal fulfilment – the reward of seeing a Mentee develop and thrive 

Mentor training covers: 

  • Mentoring and its purpose 
  • The dream journey of an ACED Mentee  
  • Mentoring session structure  
  • Role play scenarios of successful/challenging mentoring sessions 
  • Solution-focused conversations and coaching aims
  • Safeguarding

The next ACED Mentor training sessions will take place in September. You can apply to be a Mentor by emailing aced@eastdevon.gov.uk letting us know:

  • what cultural field you work or have worked in
  • why you would like to mentor
  • what qualities you think will make you a good ACED Mentor
  • a link to your ACED Directory listing (you can sign up here)

The deadline to register your interest for the next round of mentoring is 31 August 2024. Mentors may require a basic DBS check. 

We hope to assign everyone a mentee but it depends on which creative discipline mentees are looking for.