Audience at Socially Engaged Practice: Building Equity in a Divided World, held in November 2024. Photo: Brian Farrell
Artist Mentoring Award Information Session
Event · Information session
This information session, held on the 23rd March, is about answering any questions you might have about making an application to the AIC Scheme Artist Mentoring Award. The session will feature two previous mentees who will speak about their own practice and journey as collaborative, socially engaged artists.
The first 30 minutes will present key facts about the Artist Mentoring Award 2026, including roles and time commitments of the Award, as well as tips for submitting successful applications.
The second part of the session will be led by two previous recipients of the Award, Shauna Harris and Ben Malcolmson, who will explore:
- Understanding collaborative, socially engaged methodologies beyond ‘traditional’ models such as arts facilitation / workshops / teaching classes
- Sustaining the practice, with both mentees briefly introducing a recent project
- Describing their experience on the Artist Mentoring Award
- Reflections on mentoring; the benefits and learnings
- Any tips or advice from previous recipients
The information session will close with a chance to ask questions.
Shauna Harris is a biracial Irish-Jamaican actor, writer and creative facilitator working across theatre, screen, youth and community spaces. Shauna has a particular interest in creative work that intersects with advocacy due to her background in social justice studies. The thread throughout her work is visibility and connection. Shauna is a recipient of an Artist in the Community Mentoring Award from Create. She is also a co-founder of Dublin & Cork based collective pleasureactivism_irl.
Ben Malcolmson is a visual artist and curator from Belfast, living and working in Dublin. Ben works within the parameters of photography, video and sculpture exploring alternative photographic processes with relation to one’s land and identity. Ben was recently awarded as commission artist with Photo Museum Ireland on Shared Histories – Diverse Views (2024), a cross-border project that span over a year working with communities in regional areas along the Irish border with partners such as Regional Cultural Centre, Letterkenny and Nerve Centre, Derry~Londonderry, concluding in two solo exhibitions in both centres, limited edition publication and short film created by Malcolmson.
