Ghanaian-born visual artist El Anatsui, British writer Bernardine Evaristo, Chinese film director Jia Zhangke, French architect Ann Lacatong, and American jazz singer Diane Reeves Rolex Mentor and Protégé Arts Initiativeis a program launched by Rolex in 2002 to foster a new generation of outstanding talent.
The names of the new mentors and their protégés who will work together for two years were announced Friday at the Brooklyn Academy of Music, as the Arts Initiative celebrates the culmination of its current program cycle. It included Lin-Manuel Miranda, the first mentor of the recently added Open Category.
Protégés are architect Aline Aprhamian, writer Aisha Haruna Atter, visual artist Bronwyn Katz, filmmaker Raphael Manuel and singer and composer Song Yi Jong. Each protégé will receive approximately $41,000 in stipends in addition to travel and expense funds.
Rebecca Ervin, Rolex’s head of philanthropy, said in an email that the new group of mentors and protégés “has come from nine countries in Asia, Africa, North America, Europe and the Middle East.” “And their artwork reflects many of today’s most pressing issues, including sustainability, diversity and social change.”
Evaristo, who has been following the program “since Toni Morrison was a mentor 20 years ago,” said the “very close and personal attention” the protégés receive is a result of attending workshops and writing. said that it is very different from the course. “It might include career guidance and personal development, broadening conversations about creativity and society, and looking to other art forms for inspiration,” she said.
Twenty years after its inception, the Arts initiative, which calls on leading advisors to choose mentors and protégés, now includes a bold line of alumni, including David Adjaye, Alfonso Cuarón, Brian Eno, Lara Foot, Stephen Frears, Nicholas Hlobo, and David. I have a list. Hockney, Joan Jonas, Anish Kapoor, Spike Lee, Mila Nair, Crystal Pite, Tracy K. Smith.