Break the wall
Manchester

Manchester is a hub for creativity in the UK, but a class ceiling is stopping young talent from accessing opportunities on their doorstep. Break the Wall can help create a more equal and inclusive industry.

Become a mentor

Who are creative mentor network?

We are a charity working to break the class ceiling in the UK creative industries. Our work trains and develops professionals in the industry to be leaders for socioeconomic diversity, whilst supporting young people from lower socioeconomic backgrounds to make it in the creative industy.

What is
break the wall?

Break the Wall is a training and education programme for mentors. We bring together companies and mentors from across the creative industries to support our network of brilliant young creatives.

It is ideal for training staff in inclusive leadership, mentoring and coaching techniques and educating them about key DE&I issues about socioeconomic diversity.

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.

Over the programme, all mentors receive 8 hours of training to develop their mentoring and coaching skills and get specific training on socioeconomic diversity, and the barriers the young people we work with face.

Programme Structure

Break the Wall runs over 16 weeks and trains mentors alongside their mentoring sessions to help them grow their skills over the programme to support their mentee. Each programme has a dedicated Programme Manager that will be on hand through the whole process.

Who are our mentees?

The mentees on Break the Wall are all 16-25 years old and are interested in pursuing a career in the creative industries.

All of our mentees come from lower socioeconomic backgrounds. This means 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.

our community

What you need to know

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.
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.
Break the Wall Manchester is for companies based in Manchester and surrounding areas.
The programme is hybrid, with sessions happening both in person and online.
If you're outside of Manchester we will work to match you with a mentee that's close to you geographically wherever possible.
Our Manchester programme will run October 2024.

However, to allow for outreach to recruit young people to the programme, our deadline for mentor applications will be in Summer 2024.

Request more information

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.

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Company

We've partnered with Creative Mentor Network for over five years now to give our employees the exceptional experience of mentoring talented creative minds. Not only does the opportunity develop transferable skills for our employees but it also gives mentees access to a variety of diverse skill sets and tools to kick-start their careers.

Charly Fisher, Head of Folk Development and Experience, AnalogFolk Group
My mentor made me feel seen, which is something I didn't realise I needed after feeling so shut out of the industry. Having that support and accountability made such a difference for me, and I was extremely lucky to have gotten a mentor that understood my slightly different needs + pivoted to make sure she could give me the right resources - whether that was tools, food for thought, studio insights, or organising talks with other members at her workplace for anything outside of her scope.

Isra Mohammed, Mentee
The training helped me understand the perspective of someone coming from a lower-income socioeconomic background and trying to break into the industry. It also helped me build valuable skills in mentoring and managing junior talent, such as open-ended questions, listening and framing guidance the right way to still allow them to feel empowered to make their own decisions.

Stephen Klink, Mentor
Having structured support to unlock the key skills needed to support, coach and mentor without relying on our innate tendencies was beyond valuable. It was as vital to have this as any other aspect of the course, and I felt it improved the quality of my mentoring.

Natasha Woodward, Mentor
My mentor was fantastic in providing the best experience in terms of learning what the creative industry involved. Natasha was able to guide me into the right direction in terms of what I wanted in life and career. The programme has helped me develop confidence in myself and what I aspire to be, and given me clarity in what it means to be a creative.

Jeron Vincent Worrel, Mentee
Thanks so much for this wonderful programme! I have never had the chance to mentor, line manage or support someone earlier in their career than me, and I've found it super rewarding. Thanks so much again.

Grace Marsh, Elmwood
I think the programme is excellent and the speakers you had were extremely motivational and inspiring. Keep up the impactful work.

Kerensa Ayivor, Across the Pond