Since 2012 I have been working with Pan Pan Theatre to produce their International Mentorship programme. For each of the seven programmes to date we engage an established international theatre maker over a period of months to work with Irish participants on developing early-stage ideas for performance. The mentorship is supplemented with a bursary to enable the participants to ‘buy time’ to dedicate to ideas development. We also support the participant’s travel to see relevant work internationally.

Each year the mentorship culminated in a public Symposium Day – and informal event for the participants to share the ideas they had been working on, for the mentor to introduce their work and for everyone to discuss the role of mentoring in general, and this mentorship programme in particular.

The international mentors over the six programmes were Kirsten Dehlholm of Hotel Pro Forma (Denmark), Viviane De Muynck of Needcompany (Belgium), Tim Crouch (UK), Stewart Laing of Untitled Projects (UK), Anna-Sophie Mahler (Germany/Switzerland), Johanna Freiburg of She She Pop and Gob Squad (Germany), and Kelly Copper of Nature Theater of Oklahoma (USA).

Participants to date: Luke Casserly, Doireann Coady, Veronica Dyas, Dylan Coburn Gray, Amy Conroy, Thomas Conway, David Coonan, Tom Creed, Paul Curley, Jane Deasy, Clodagh Deegan, Ruairí Donovan, Shaun Dunne, Maedhbh Haicead, Conor Hanratty, Kate Heffernan, Sarah Gordon, Fionnuala Gygax, Alan Howley, Tom Lane, Una McKevitt, Lynnette Moran, Bush Moukarzel, Gina Moxley, Siobhán Ní Dhuinnín, Zoe Ní Riordáin, Maeve O’Mahony, Hilary O’Shaughnessy, Michelle Read, Martin Sharry, Aoife Spillane-Hinks, Richard Walsh and Louise White.

Key activities for this role included:

– programme development in collaboration with Pan Pan
– grant application writing
– planning and engagement of the mentors
– development and management of open application system
– selection of participants in collaboration with Pan Pan and the mentor
– scheduling and logistics management of mentor visits
– fundraising and liaison with supporters and partners (Danish Embassy, British Council, Gate Theatre, Goethe Institut Irland)
– logistics management of all aspects of the Symposium Days
– online promotion of the mentorship and of the Symposium Days
– budget management