The Mentorship Programme has been a successful subsection part of the collaboration between the UJ Art Gallery and the MTN SA Foundation, affording three final year students at the Faculty of Art, Design and Architecture (UJ), a first-hand experience of curatorial practice that will benefit their future careers.
The mentees of 2020, Angelique Bougaard, Mpho Mazikuko and Ndaya Kim Ilunga, attended master classes on collection management and curatorial practice, practical in-house label making, marketing and social media planning and participated in the selection process of the Top 10 artists from the Emerging Artists Programme.
They assisted in the development of the content and running of the Educational Programme (aimed at high school learners and students) as well as administrative tasks pertaining to the Emerging Artist Programme.
Mentees from previous years included Mia van Schalkwyk, Nico Ras and Alexia Ferreira (2018) and Jordan Hance, Jaylin Richardson and Gemma Meek (2019)
Angelique Patricia Mary Bougaard
Visual Arts Honours Student at the University of Johannesburg.
I would like to express sincere gratitude to Annali Dempsey, Mia van Schalkwyk and Niel Nortje for the incredible opportunity. Working under each of your supervision has been a wonderful learning experience for me.
In the training workshops and Zoom meetings, I gained an informed understanding into the internal operations of running an exhibition amidst a pandemic. I acquired a variety of skills that include: organising an art educational program; understanding the running of a competition; the process involved in selecting artists for competition purposes; insight into marketing and legal issues; and, most importantly I observed the essential skill of understanding a healthy working relationship.
I can summarize my experience at UJ Art Gallery as both professional and personal. I’ve learned multitasking is not about simultaneously splitting my energy across tasks but rather recognizing priorities. Given the opportunity I would gladly love to assist in upcoming projects in the future.
Thanks for the opportunity.
Keneiloe-mpho Mazibuko
Visual Arts Honours Student at the University of Johannesburg.
My experience in the Mentorship programme was quite an informative and a very exciting process. I have honestly learnt so much about the art industry and the inner complex workings of an art competition.
It not only informed me about what kinds of work and background is needed to work in a gallery and develop a programme that engages public participates in art. As an artist it made me get out of my shell and learn to work with a team that planned to achieve the best results. I really appreciated the fact that I got a personal experience creating the educational programme with my team, learnt how marketing, labels, art handling and plenty more through the master classes given. I truly without a doubt am beyond pleased.
Ndaya Kim Ilunga
Visual Arts B Tech Student at the University of Johannesburg.
My experience as a mentee thus far has been amazing, I’ve learnt so much from the past few months. My fellow mentees and supervisors and coordinators have been a lovely team and as such I always felt very pleased to be working with everyone.
In week one we started off with an introduction meeting, everyone was acquainted and we were given clear instructions for the weeks ahead. I really enjoyed doing research and working closely with Willem Boshoff’s Blind Alphabet Letter B exhibition. I believe our team came up with an amazing educational program that highlights the main themes within this exhibition. I learnt a lot about being privy to impairments. I think it’s a good and fun way to get people talking about how to make society and our environments more accommodating for all people. I enjoyed all the master classes we had as well, being an artist myself I learnt a lot from the museum and marketing masterclasses.
The mentees and I worked closely with Mia and Annali to get the educational program on a presentable and cohesive level. That was a very insightful experience, we took time and paid attention to all the finer details to produce a clear, direct and fun experience for the participants. The judging process was very fun, all the contestants submitted great work and I enjoyed discussing it with the team. Altogether I have learnt a lot from the research, admin and planning aspect of creating an educational program and I will forever be grateful for the tools and skills I have obtained.