NEW VOICES MENTORING PROGRAMME FOR STORYTELLERS ANNOUNCED
Beyond the Border – Wales’ International Storytelling Festival are pleased to announce that it will be opening applications for its New Voices Mentoring Programme in July, which will support at least two emerging storytellers in Wales to shape a bespoke programme of mentoring, tailored to their own needs and ambitions.
Beyond the Border will offer support in matching mentees with established Wales based storytellers and providing clear guidance and development opportunities across the course of a year, prioritising bilingual, Welsh language, Black, Asian, minority ethnic, economically disadvantaged and disabled artists.
Ahead of applications opening, Beyond the Border are setting up CASGLU coffee and chat spaces for established and emerging storytellers to find out more about what people want, around different themes. The next sessions will be around:
Friday 10th July – Established Storytellers and New Voices. What training do you
think needs to be in place to support new voices in storytelling? What training have you received? All our welcome to share thoughts and ideas. Beyond the Border would also like touch base anyone would be interested as a mentor for this programme, which will be a paid role.
Week commencing 13th July applications will open for the New Voices programme and another CASGLU drop in session for those interested in applying for the mentoring, or shaping it to come and share their thoughts. CASGLU will be on Friday 17 July 11am-12pm with established storytellers also welcome to express their interest in being a mentor on the programme.
Beyond the Border’s New Voices Mentoring Programme is part of its Reimagine, Redevelop and create Resilience programme which is funded thanks to crucial additional support from Arts Council Wales’ Resilience Fund.
Beyond the Border is committed to developing new partnerships and networks and to working with a range of communities surrounding Dinefwr and throughout Wales. BtB is keen to explore new ways to tour storytelling, to support freelance storytellers and create collaborations with other art forms, working together to create a more robust future for storytelling in Wales.
“We’re enormously grateful to Arts Council Wales for their support of this programme, which offers crucial support to artists whose work has been massively impacted by Covid-19. CASGLU and New Voices Mentoring are the first in a series of projects that will keep developing and evolving over the next few festival cycles, in response to all the input we receive over this next six months. Mentoring can be transformative in helping artists achieve their goals – this is a great time for people to invest in their development for the future. Casglu artist chats every Friday are highlighting new ideas and approaches, and we are keen to hear from any organisations interested in connecting more with storytelling as we move ahead.” said Artistic Director, Naomi Wilds.
For further information about CASGLU and New Voices Mentoring Programme, please contact BtB’s Engagement Co-ordinator Tamarwilliams@beyondtheborder.com
Beyond the Border International Storytelling Festival is supported by Arts Council of Wales, The Major Events Unit, Creative Europe and the Federation of European Storytelling.