Programme Ten: Tuskar
Learning the Ropes
Our tenth programme will run from December 2021 to March 2022
The Meet a Mentor format
Session 1 - Wednesday 1st December 2021
Session 2 - Wednesday 26th January 2022
Session 3 - Wednesday 23rd February 2022
Session 4 - Wednesday 23rd March 2022
The Meet a Mentor programme takes place over four months and comprises structured workshops, sessions, talks and meetings. Mentors offer mentees support, encouragement and advice on how to get that bit closer to their chosen career path or further develop within the field they are in. Mentees offer mentors a chance to work with a younger generation of creatives, impart valuable wisdom and learnings and holistically understand what the new generations bring and the challenges they face when entering the creative industries in this climate.
Each evening’s structured sessions include time for the mentor and mentee to spend together working on the mentee’s goals, a group task led by a creative professional that all take part in, and end with a short TED-type talk from an inspirational speaker.
Meet a Mentor: Tuskar is delivered in partnership
We are delivering our 10th programme in collaboration with
Dermot O' Leary's Tuskar Trust
Mentors:
Adeel Amini - Series Producer Objective Media Group
Deputy Mayor for Culture and the Creative Industries
Amelia Brown - Managing Director at Thames
Ashley Whitehouse - Executive Producer at Thames
Charlie Irwin - Director of Programmes at Thames
Coco Jackson - Producer and Casting Producer
Dermot O'Leary - Broadcaster, Producer and Author
Hector Dockril - Director Pulse Films & Photographer
Ivor Baddiel - Scriptwriter and Author
Kalpna Patel-Knight - BBC Entertainment Commissioning Editor,
Leilah Mason - Production Executive at Thames
Melony Smith - Executive Producer TV
Meriel Beale - Freelance Series Editor, Comedy & Entertainment
Nicole Logan - Founder Dutchie Studios, Development Executive Reduced ListeningNihal Arthanyake - Broadcaster
Suzi Aplin - Freelance Producer TV Comedy, Entertainment and Live EventsSession Details
Wednesday 1st December 2021
Our first session took place at The Good Growth Hub with a blended session comprising most pairings joining us in the Hub in real life (IRL) for their first meeting to look at their goals and to work out a plan for how they wanted to work with each other over the coming four months on the programme.The evening ended on an inspirational talk from Tuskar Founder, Broadcaster, Producer & Author Dermot O' Leary about his job, his journey to his job and why the TV and content creation needs to be more diverse.
Wednesday 26th January 2022
Our second session took place online and was well attended. We were also joined by Deputy Mayor for Culture Justine Simons who said of the evening "It was so good to see a zoom screen full of young people getting a helping hand to break into the industry last night. As well as the brilliant mentoring I was also struck by the value of the peer support between them." The evening ended on an inspirational talk from Creativity Works Photography alumna Dubheasa Lanipekun also Writer/Director of BBC4's award-winning Blue Corridor 15 and Create Jobs Alumna Stephanie Okoye upcoming Casting Director about their career journeys since. working with A New Direction and the process of getting the film made from commissioning to casting and most recently screened at The Sundance Festival.
Wednesday 23rd February 2022
Our third and penultimate session took place online. Mentors and Mentees joined each other in random breakout rooms to get to know each other a bit better. The theme for the evening centred around encouraging positive mental health for those working in the creative sector and we had a group discussion about the importance of setting boundaries & why it’s important to value ourselves and appreciate ourselves more. This conversation was instigated by two of our mentors saying how much they were also learning from the mentoring relationship and specifically their mentees. The evening ended with an inspirational talk from mentor and Series Producer Adeel Amini, who talked candidly about his own battles with his mental health whilst starting out working in television, how he came back from burn out and how he has learnt to approach his work and life with more compassion for himself and others.