Mentorship Dates: October 1st 2025 – Feb 28th 2026
Application Deadline: September 8th, 4 pm
Duration: 5 Months
Award: €1500 per Mentor and €1500 per Mentee
Maximum number of Mentees/Mentors: 8 Mentees + 8 Mentors
ABOUT THE FUNDING
THE DIGITAL ARTS MENTORSHIP SCHEME was born out of the Arts Council’s Digital Arts Policy 2023-2025. The policy highlights the urgent need to develop capacity both across the broader arts sector and within the Arts Council to support artists working in digital art in Ireland today.
Mentorships were identified as key components of that long-term capacity building. In June 2024, the Cultural and Creative Industries Skillnet coordinated the Digital Arts Mentorship Scheme on behalf of the Arts Council Ireland. 8 mentorships were completed in the pilot year of the scheme.
The Scheme aims to support individual digital artists to develop and extend their practice through the process of mentoring with an experienced digital artist or other professional with expertise in digital arts. The second year builds on the pilot scheme in 2024/25 and proposes a similar structure. Mentees are invited to propose their mentor at the point of application. It is envisaged that the mentees/mentors will meet at least once or twice per month over the five-month period.
For the purpose of this call, the definition of Digital Arts aligns with the Arts Council’s Digital Arts policy as follows:
“Digital is a fundamental part of how we live our lives today. It impacts our work, our home lives and how we engage with culture and the arts. Digital is often used as a catch-all phrase in the arts. It covers everything from production and subject matter to marketing and social media. As such, the first priority of this document is to outline the scope of the policy.
The policy does not focus on marketing or Information and Communications Technology (ICT). Instead, its remit is to enhance and build on the Arts Council’s support for digital artistic activity. The Arts Council defines digital artistic activities as artistic work that:
- Engages directly with digital tools and cultures as the material to create work and/or as the subject for example data art, computer software and artificial intelligence.
- Relies on digital technologies to achieve its artistic purpose for example video and artist moving image, digital lighting, web/online art, virtual reality, augmented reality etc.
- Is represented through digital platforms or devices for example streaming of theatre, sharing artwork on Instagram, streaming music, reading eBooks, multi-media accessibility, etc.”
Mentoring offers professionally focused development for artists. It opens the potential for knowledge sharing and gives artists the opportunity to observe and formally review aspects of their own practice in action. Mentoring can involve a mentor/ mentee relationship, which brings an experienced artist together with a less experienced artist to guide and support their creative process.
The following guidelines were drawn from other mentoring models funded by the Arts Council.[1] They are merely intended to be loose guidelines and are by no means definitive. Each mentoring relationship is unique and must be driven by the needs as defined by the participants.
There are three basic guidelines which apply to mentor and mentee:
1. That there is a shared desire to be in a mentoring relationship.
2. That the boundaries between mentor and mentee are clearly set out and understood.
3. That there is honesty, confidentiality and trust on both sides.
Mentee’s Responsibilities
The onus is on the mentee to drive the relationship in order to feed the mentor with challenges/issues/materials to which they can respond. Therefore, the mentee should clearly define the parameters of their professional ‘need’. Other responsibilities include:
- To adhere to any deadlines agreed upon and set.
- To ensure that any necessary materials to be considered at the next meeting is with the mentor at least 5 days prior to the meeting to allow the mentor space to formulate a meaningful response.
- To be respectful of the mentor’s time and obligations.
- To be flexible in terms of travelling to meetings or engaging with the mentor through online meetings, taking into consideration at all times the mentor’s access requirements.
- To be open to coming out of one’s comfort zone and to take risks.
- To have the desire and ability to learn new things about your practice and yourself.
- To be willing to take constructive criticism.
Mentor’s Responsibilities
A mentor bears witness to the development of the mentee’s vision and shares in certain elements of it. Other responsibilities include:
- To act as a sounding board and advisor to the mentee (rather than a “teacher”).
- To help define the goals and strategies that will help and challenge the mentee.
- To act as an objective eye and to encourage independence.
- To vary styles of relating to the mentee according to their needs, ranging from directive to non-directive, encouraging the mentee “to become the artist they want to be”.
- To provide a sense of support and affirmation to the mentee.
- To give a constructive and critical response to the mentee’s materials.
- To monitor that the relationship is resulting in meaningful development – is the mentee making progress?
- To be flexible in terms of travelling to meetings and taking into consideration at all times the mentee’s access requirements.
Additional Information
1. Meeting spaces – We suggest that you meet in a neutral space or online via conference call initially until you become comfortable with one another (unless it is necessary to be in a working space).
2. Length of meetings – It is up to you to negotiate the length of the meetings but we would suggest between one and three hours per session as a general guideline.
3. Length of mentorship engagement – Mentorships will run from October 1st 2025, to February 28th 2026
4. Development of relationship – the relationship between mentor and mentee is likely to be stronger towards the end of your time together rather than at the start. It may be useful to remember this when planning meetings.
WHO CAN APPLY?
To apply you must be an individual digital artist living in the Republic of Ireland.This includes artists with a background and expertise in the use of digital technologies and many types of digital media for creating work.
For the purposes of this funding call, the definition of the Arts Council’s Digital Arts Policy 2023-2025
WHO IS NOT ELIGIBLE TO APPLY?
People who are not eligible to apply in 2025 include those who:
- Do not have an artistic practice
- Are not living in the Republic of Ireland and have not demonstrated that the outcomes of their proposal benefit the arts in the Republic of Ireland
- Have already received Arts Council or other public funding for the activities for which they are applying
- Are in foundation courses, undergraduate education or postgraduate education from August 2025 to July 2026 (if applying to the mentorship)
APPLICATION REQUIREMENTS
Applications for the Digital Arts Mentorship Scheme must be made directly via the online application form (LINK BELOW)
Within the form, you will be asked to provide the following information. Failure to submit all required documents will lead to your application being automatically disqualified.
- Full Name
- Address
- Phone Number
- Access Requirements
- Career Stage
- Arts Council Reference Number (If applicable)
- Gender
- Ethnicity
- Proposed Mentors Name
- Proposed Mentors Email
- Proposed Mentors Website
- Have You Worked with this Mentor Before?
You will also be asked to link to the following documents (Please link to a file sharing platform of your choice, eg GDrive, Dropbox, OneDrive)
- MENTORSHIP GOALS:
(Max 1 page)
Please include details on what you want to achieve from the mentorship, why it’s important for you to do this at this stage of your practice, and how you plan to do it.
Consider the following as part of this section:
– What are your biggest challenges for you as a digital artist? (For example, artistic development, creative block, , networks and opportunities)
-What are your short-term and long-term goals for your digital art career? (beginner – mid-career, provisional, freelance, full-time artist, International, etc.)
-What specific areas would you like to improve in your digital arts practice?
-Why is your proposed mentor the ideal candidate to support you in this mentorship? - YOUR CV (Max 2 pages) Please upload your arts practice CV.
- PORTFOLIO. Please include a link to your online digital portfolio. This must include a minimum of 3 and a maximum of 5 samples of digital art.
- MENTOR LETTER. (Max 2 Pages) Please upload a letter from the mentor describing why they want to work with you and their availability for the dates in your proposal.
- MENTOR CV (Max 2 pages) Please upload your mentor’s CV
| ASSESSMENT PROCESS The criteria for assessment of applications are as follows: |
| Quality of Mentee portfolio (20 marks) |
| Suitability of the proposed Mentor (20 marks) |
| Clarity and feasibility of mentorship goals (20 marks) |
| Clarity of the plan to achieve mentorship goals (20 marks) |
| Ability to demonstrate why a mentorship (as opposed to training, etc) is the appropriate route to achieve goals (20 marks) |
AWARD
€1500 each per Mentor and €1500 each per Mentee
AWARD PAYMENT SCHEDULE
70% upon signing the mentorship contract
30% upon completing a short online mentorship survey, at the end of the 5 month period
| KEY DATES | |
| Monday, August 18th | Applications open |
| Monday, September 8th, 4 pm | Applications close |
| Friday, September 26th | All applicants will receive a decision by this date |
| Tuesday, September 30th , 10 am – 1pm | Online Mentorship Workshop for successful Mentees and Mentors with Laurie Knell, Director of Strategic Innovation Partners |
| October 1st 2025 to February 28th 2026 | Mentorship period |
HOW TO APPLY?
QUESTIONS
If you have any question, please contact barbaradeignan@furthr.ie
FAQ
Can one mentor undertake more than one mentorship?
Yes, a mentor can support up to two different mentees over the course of the Digital Arts Mentorship Scheme.
Is there a panel of mentors to choose from?
No, mentees are invited to propose their mentor at the point of application.
Can the mentor be based outside of the Republic of Ireland?
Yes, the mentor can be based outside of the Republic of Ireland. Invoices must be submitted in euro.
Does the mentor need to have experience in Digital Artistic activities?
The mentor must be a digital artist or other arts professional with experience in digital artistic activities nationally or internationally.
Can I include training delivered by the mentor to the mentee?
No, the funding is specifically allocated for mentorship and not training. See section on mentorship above for a detailed overview of what mentoring involves.
Can candidates who received the award in the pilot scheme in 2024 apply in 2025?
Yes, both mentees and mentors from the pilot scheme are eligible to apply in 2025, provided they meet the eligibility criteria detailed above.
[1] Parts of these guidelines have been distilled from a document drawn up by ADI and Fire Station Artists’ Studios using resources drawn from Connect Mentoring Programme which was funded by the Arts Council and delivered by Create and Common Ground in 2009-10.