Break the wall
Be part of a movement to break down barriers and create a more inclusive creative industry.
Break the Wall is ideal for training staff in inclusive leadership, mentoring and coaching techniques and educating them about key DE&I issues in socioeconomic diversity.
What is break the wall?
Break the Wall is our signature mentoring and training programme, bringing together companies and mentors from all over the creative industries to support our network of brilliant young creatives.
how does it work?
Mentors are matched with a mentee from our community, and support them in fortnightly mentoring sessions over a 16 week period.
To ensure they are equipped to help their mentee fully, all mentors receive 8 hours of training to develop their skills in managing and leadership, and get specific training on socioeconomic diversity, and the barriers the young people we work with face.
Who are our mentees?
Mentees on Break the Wall are all 16-25 years old and are interested in pursuing a career in the creative industries.
All our mentees on Break the Wall come from lower socioeconomic backgrounds, meaning they’ve had less access to the financial support, contacts and cultural know-how many others have to get ahead and make it in the creative industry.
Our mentees are interested in careers in every corner of the industry but don’t always know the different career pathways and roles that exist, which makes it more challenging to make it.
Some of our mentees are still in school, and others may already be working. As a mentor, you can help guide them on the next step of their journey by using your knowledge and networks, plus the tools we will give you.
What you need to know
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Our mentoring programmes are great for mid-to-senior level talent looking to develop and evolve their management, leadership and DE&I knowledge. You don’t already need to be a leader or manager or be in a creative role to mentor.
The variety of roles in our mentoring community is huge. We’ve worked with art directors, journalists, account managers, event organisers, producers, strategists and even lawyers.
The breadth of roles in the creative industry is huge, and our mentors reflect that.
If you’re interested in mentoring and want to find out if it’s right for you, contact us here.
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As a charity, we are funded by the courses we run. Mentors, or their employers, pay a course fee that covers the programme costs and enables us to keep our programmes free and accessible to young people from lower socioeconomic communities.
The cost per mentor is £1,195 + VAT for the 16 week programme.
Discounts are available for group mentor bookings of 6+ over the course of a year, and for freelancers.
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Our programmes are primarily for mentors who are based in the UK. This is because of the nuances of socioeconomic diversity and class, and our focus on building networks for our mentees.
We operate across the UK, and training is hybrid to enable mentors to join from across the country. Some programmes will have in-person elements, but get in touch to understand how these work.
For our general Break the Wall programmes, in person events will take place at our offices in London Victoria. For location specific programmes, like Break the Wall Manchester, in-person events will be held locally.
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Break the Wall runs three times a year.
Our upcoming programmes are beginning in September 2024, January 2025 and April 2025.
Our Manchester programme will run October 2024.
Programmes are scheduled around the summer holidays to reduce disruption to the training and mentoring meetings.
Register your interest
If you’re interested in mentoring for yourself or your team please complete the short form below and we will be in touch with more information.
Break the Wall Partners
Questions?
Check out our FAQs or get in touch.