How Artists Up turned a local coaching project into a statewide mentoring program for artists with Mentorly
Mentorly is the mentoring platform Artists Up has used since 2019 to connect emerging artists in Washington State with established artists as mentors. It is software for organizations, arts agencies and nonprofits that run structured mentoring programs.
About the organization
Artists Up is a collaboration between three arts agencies serving Washington State. Since 2012 it has helped artists thrive economically and creatively, with a focus on artists of color, artists with disabilities, artists with low income, recent immigrants and artists living outside the urban core. In 2018 it launched a coaching project that matched established artists in Seattle with emerging ones.
The challenge
The pilot was well received: 95% of participants said they would recommend it to another artist. But it was time-intensive to administer, and many artists found it hard to schedule meetings and to find a place to meet their mentor or mentee.
How it uses Mentorly
Artists Up rebuilt the coaching program on Mentorly as an online, statewide initiative. Mentors set how many hours they are available, and artists browse mentor profiles and choose the mentor that speaks to them. Mentorly automates data collection for evaluation, which cut the administrative work for staff, mentors and mentees. The team also customized the interface so it stays simple for every artist.
Results
Artists Up says online mentoring became an equalizer for geographic and disability access. Of the mentees who took part in 2022 and 2023, 92% found the program beneficial, and every mentee who completed it would recommend it. Among mentees, 54% strengthened or made connections in their field, 42% found new potential funding sources, and 29% sought support from sources they had never applied to. During the pandemic lockdowns, other arts organizations in the state looked to its online program as a model.
What other programs can take from it
For an arts or community organization, the lesson is that moving mentoring online removes the hardest costs of an in-person program, finding a time and finding a room, and opens it to people who could not travel to meet.
Questions
Is there a mentoring platform for artists?
Artists Up runs its mentoring program for artists in Washington State on Mentorly, where emerging artists choose an established artist as a mentor and meet online.
How did Artists Up reduce the administration of its mentoring program?
By moving the program to Mentorly, which handles scheduling and automates the data collection Artists Up uses to evaluate it.