Queer/Art/Mentorship Announces This Year's Mentors and Application Launch

Queer/Art/Mentorship, upon opening the application process for its 2015-2016 program, has announced this year's list of mentors. Founded in 2011 by filmmaker Ira Sachs, the aim of the project is to facilitate mentorship relationships between aspiring queer artists in five fields (literary, film, performance art, visual art, and curatorial) with established figures in New York City.

Over the past four years, Queer/Art/Mentorship has grown in size and repute, with more than 200 applicants expected to vie for the 10 spaces open this year. Speaking with Out, Ira Sachs explained that he stayed away from gay-driven storylines for so long because there wasn't support for it:

"There was a huge absence of examples, and I'm not saying that I necessarily would have known or been mentored by those artists, but I could have watched from a distance and gotten some guidance. For me, as a filmmaker, the best thing to do was to talk with other filmmakers about their experience. I wanted to create an organization where that was possible for other artists, and for a new generation."

This year's mentors are:

Filmmakers Thomas Allen Harris, Silas Howard, and Stacie Passon

Visual Artists Angela Dufresne and Avram Finkelstein

Writers Jaime Manrique and Sarah Schulman

Performance Artist Talvin Wilks and Dancer/Choreographer Arthur Aviles

Curator Shannon Michael Cane

Each will choose one fellow, whom they will meet with on a monthly basis.

According to Sachs, the effects of Queer/Art/Mentorship are already making themselves seen within the artistic world"

"One of the things I learned early on is that mentorship is one of the most effective ways to build the field overall. And what I've seen, in the four years that we've started this program, is that fabric has started to be created among a wide and diverse group of artists across generations, across communities, across backgrounds, and across art forms."

To learn more about the mentors, and how to apply, visit their website. To hear from some previous fellows, watch the video below:

What is Queer/Art/Mentorship? from Queer/Art on Vimeo.