** Deadline has been extended until March 30, 2025. If you are interested in applying but cannot find an artist partner to apply with, please fill out this short form. ➡️

If you are looking for someone to partner with for this program either as a mentor or mentee, please visit the OAL member directory where you can browse and search for artist members.

OAL Artist Member Directory

The Ohio Art League has been a leader in supporting artists through exhibitions and networking opportunities in the arts since its inception in 1909. One of the major components of an artist’s career that OAL is in a strategic position to support is providing opportunities for career development. A major part of professional career development in many fields, including the arts, is the growth of personal networks in a stratified manner so that one is engaged with professionals in your chosen career that are more advanced in their career, as well as those who are at a more introductory level. This stratified networking is the root premise of mentorship.  

The Ohio Art League Artists Mentorship Program is a new initiative open to all members of OAL at no extra cost beyond typical membership fees that already provide exhibition, networking, marketing, and other career development activities. Members at all levels of memberships can apply to be chosen as a participant in the Artist Mentorship Program.

Eligibility:

• To be eligible to apply to the OAL Artist Mentorship Program, applicants must be a current member of the Ohio Art League and maintain active paid status as a member during the entirety of participation in the program.
• To be eligible you must apply along with a partner member artist within the Ohio Art League. Both participants must be members at the time of application.
• When applying both artists must identify the mentorship relationship they wish to explore as one of the following; Master and Apprentice or Mentorship Partners.
  • Master and Apprentice - This mentorship relationship is a one way relationship where one participant is serving in a role to foster the career of the other through learning specific skills, developing specific art career materials, or supporting the creation of their artwork. This relationship should be identified if the plan is that the apprentice will present their work alone as part of the program reporting and exhibition phase.
  • Mentorship Partners - This mentorship relationship is a two way relationship where time spent participating in the program is split so that both participants are learning specific skills, developing specific art materials, or supporting the creation of new artwork. This relationship would be identified if during the reporting and exhibition phase, both participants will be presenting work as a group.

Selection Criteria: 

The Ohio Art League Board of Trustees will review all applicant materials and choose 2-3 pairs of artists participants to fund per year based on the following criteria.

• Paring of the artist participants within the mentorship relationship chosen. This will be evaluated through the participants supplied narratives and support materials.
• Description of plan for mentorship activities and how well they coincide with the other provided support materials.
• Description of the skills, materials or works that are planned to be created as part of the mentorship program.
• Description of resources needed and presentation of a realistic budget that can be supported by the programs available funding.

Program Participation Requirements if Selected:
If selected to participate in the program, participants must complete the following tasks:

• Participants must plan to meet a minimum of 10 times of the planned period of the program either in person or virtually.
• Upon conclusion of the mentorship activities, participants must plan to present their activities at an OAL Tonight networking event online ,which typically takes place on the 3rd Wednesday of each month.
• Upon conclusion of the mentorship activities, participants should plan to work with the OAL staff and the Board of Trustees to find an opportunity to exhibit works that were created as part of the program.
  • Exhibition of work could include a showcase at RAW Gallery.
  • Exhibition of work could include plans to exhibit work in a participant identified venue.

Program Funding Details: (work in progress based on grants)
If selected for the Artist Mentorship Program, participants have the oppurtunity to access the following support from the Ohio Art League:

• $500 to be used to support program activities and cost of materials.
  Technical support if virtual meetings are needed through zoom.
• Marketing support through Ohio Art League Channels to promote the participants activities and any exhibition of works that come from the program.
  • This could include design support for printed materials if that is identified as part of a possible need in the applicant's support narratives. 

Required Support Materials:

• Both Participant Artist’s CV or Resume
  • If mentorship support is needed for development of materials please provide what you have and address that need in the application narrative.
  • If you need advice on creating a CV or Artists Resume please reach out to our email at oal@oal.org so we can provide some suggestions.
• Applicant narrative
  • The narrative should address the following:
    • Short artist bio from each participant
    • Short narrative about mentorship relationships as Master and Apprentice or Mentorship Partners with an explanation of the plan for what activities will be undertaken, taught, and learned.
    • Detailed explanation of how the participants plan to use the minimum 10 meetings.
    • Explanation of work that is planned to be created.
    • Description of how the $500 will be used including possible materials or other costs.
    • If needed, additional detail about support that might be needed for technical aspects of marketing aspects such as described in the “Program Funding Details” area.
    • A sample of 5 pieces of art from each artist that supports the application narrative plans for activities.
    • *Feel free to copy paste these criteria into a document and address each one for your final support materials

Application Portal