Jan to Mar 2022 - THIS IS WHO WE ARE (TIWWA) Mentoring Programme. Reframing The Margins - a partnership between Kath Melbourne and Melanie Abrahams

THIS IS WHO WE ARE (TIWWA) is a UK-Australian movement of intergenerational & intersectional women artists, producers and creatives of colour who are transforming sectors, thinking and spaces. With heritages including African and Caribbean, First Nations, West, South and South East Asian origins, we are amplifying our collective power through arts and cultural events, socials, professional development resources and gatherings which champion the values of social justice, creativity and care. The programme is part of the British Council’s UK-Australia Season 2021 - 2022. 

Kath Melbourne, Australian-based arts consultant and Melanie Abrahams, UK-based arts curator and producer, will be mentoring thirty artists, producers and creative professionals as part of the programme.

The mentees will benefit in a variety of ways: a sense of connection, an encouraging sounding board, the potential for global and cross-cultural perspectives, intersectional conversations, deep listening, clarity, and general support in the ways that you would like and need right now.  We can support you with current projects and future possibilities.   Successful applicants will receive a one-to-one online session between January and March 2022 at a time to suit them.  Additionally, there will be professional development (PD) sessions available on themes including wellbeing, mapping your career and leadership.  The sessions are free of charge for mentees and are funded through the TIWWA programme.

From Nov to Dec 2021, we invited applications from women of colour who are working and living in the UK and Australia and from the many applications received, thirty participants have been selected for the 2022 programme. Press Release

One-To-One Sessions

Melanie offers one-to-one sessions to artists, practitioners and creative businesses.

2018 - 2019: part II of project Mentoring Three Ways which offers one-to-ones to artists and practitioners working in literature around England.

2018: mentor for Tell Yours, a storytelling project by Filotico Arts.

2016: From January to December , I gave 50 one-to-one mentoring sessions to artists and practitioners around England as part of a wider project, Mentoring Three Ways, which also included careers talks.

Talks

July 2018: Guest speaker at the Brontë Parsonage Parsonage

March 2018: Guest speaker at Caribbean Feminisms, Diasporic Identities

Jan 2018: Guest speaker at Tell Yours

Feb - April 2017: Guest speaker at Creative and Cultural Skills Annual Conference and Narrating the Caribbean Nation - Peepal Tree Conference.

2010 - 2016: Visiting Speaker and Guest Lecturer at venues and universities including Birkbeck ( MA in Theatre and Arts Producing), Royal Society of Literature, Bath Spa University, London Metropolitan Archives, Roehampton University, Common Purpose, University of Kingston, University of Leicester, University of Nottingham, Apples and Snakes, Rich Mix and Writing West Midlands (National Writers Conference).

Testing Ground (initiator and curator)

Testing Ground (2015 and 2016) was a series of industry panels offering forums for artists and practitioners to gain feedback on their ideas and projects and one-to-one mentoring over three months.