Find out what you need to run a peer mentoring group and how to choose artists to be members.
What you need for a peer mentoring group
Making and running a peer mentoring group takes time and energy. It’s important to understand the work involved as well as the benefits. To make and run your own group, you will need at least the following:
- A committed, well-connected organiser, or an agreed way to share this work
- A time keeper / facilitator or chair to keep the group to time
- 10-15 regularly attending members artists / craftspeople
- Suitable venue(s) or a reliable platform for online meetings
- A schedule that you and your members can stick to
Finding and inviting artists
To choose artists to invite to your peer mentoring group, think about:
- artists you would feel comfortable to share your work-in-progress
- artists you don’t know but would like to build a new relationship with. What artists can you get in touch with whose work you admire and feedback you’d value?
In our experience, the best group size is about 10 – 15 artists. This works best becasue even if some artists can’t attend a meeting, there should still be enough for a conversation.
Try to make a group with shared interests in their work. This might be around the concepts or themes you use in your work, or artists who use the same materials or technical processes. Consider how close the members live to each other to help people meet in person. You might decide to hold meetings online or in person, or have a mix.
If you can only think of a couple of artists to invite, tell them your plans and ask them to suggest others. This is also a good way to meet new artists and expand your network.
It’s usually better to start by inviting artists from your personal and professional network. This will mean you know that potential members are interested, friendly and reliable. It will make the sessions informal, relaxed and enjoyable as well as encouraging rigorous feedback.
If you don’t feel you know many other artists you could try:
- Artists you may have exhibited or worked with directly in the past
- Getting recommendations from any artists you know
- Through Artquest Exchange: Artquest’s online community
- Meeting people at exhibition openings and events, or at online events. The Art Rabbit website lists many online and physical events.
- Other artists in your studio (if you have one) or artists you meet at open studio events. Search online for ‘open studios’ to find events near you.
- Other open crit sessions.
When inviting artist members to be part of the group:
- Give a brief explanation of what peer mentoring is and why it’s useful
- Explain the purpose or focus of the group that you have decided
- Mention who else has been invited or confirmed as a member
- Say why you think they should be part of the group – mention how what they do has something in common with the other people you’re inviting
- If you want, ask their suggestions of other artists to invite
- Ask when they could come to a planning meeting with other members
In-person events means that members have to travel to meet. Members with caring responsibilities may have other costs for childcare, for example. Online meetings with only a few in-person meetings can help reduce these costs. You can also apply for funding to cover these costs, but remember that applying for funding can take a long time too.
Visiting speakers
As well as having regular members, you might invite a visiting speaker as a one-off. This might be another artist, a curator, someone working in a gallery, or a journalist. This adds more information to the group and encourage people to keep coming.
You may feel intimidated about approaching speakers you don’t know but remember:
- Having a name for your group makes it look more official and serious
- A curator will be more willing to visit a group of artists whose work relates to their interests, rather than a single artist
- When inviting speakers to your group, you’re expressing an interest in their work, rather than just asking them to take an interest in yours
When identifying and approaching visiting speakers:
- Ask the members for suggestions and an introduction before getting in touch
- Research the speaker’s interests and explain how it relates to the group
- Explain the work of your members in a sentence and include a link to their websites
- If they accept the invitation, tell them about how the meetings run so they know what to expect
Avoid having too many sessions with outside speakers. Having lots of visitors might make members less comfortable and open.
If you decide to have visiting speakers, offering a small fee or covering their expenses will make them more likely to accept an invitation. You can apply for funding for your group or ask the group if they can each make a contribution to cover speaker fees or expenses.
Many peer mentoring groups do not invite visiting speakers and only have presentations by their members. Decide if this is a priority for you and your group.
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