WIFT is delighted to announce the launch of its new mentoring initiative, commencing with a July-December 2008 pilot.

The aim of the programme is to match early-mid career women with senior practitioners to help them gain knowledge and skills, be better able to self-critique their work, have confidence in their abilities, deal with professional issues and advance in their chosen field.

To deliver the programme, WIFT is working with some very generous senior practitioners who will offer a dedicated number of hours to selected mentees to work on identified goals through meetings/phone/email etc. as appropriate.

KEY PROGRAMME INFORMATION
- the agreed number of mentoring hours for the pilot is twelve per mentee, to be delivered over the period July-December 2008;
- applicants must be full members of WIFT;
- up to ten mentoring matches will be made;
- placements will be decided by a panel and no correspondence will be entered into;
- proposed matches will be introduced in June and then, if the parties are happy to proceed, a contract will be drawn up for the mentoring period.

MENTEE REQUIREMENTS
Mentees will need to:
- commit to working with their mentor as agreed, honouring all agreements and deadlines;
- agree to privacy and confidentiality requirements;
- respect the professional nature of the relationship;
- be open to accepting constructive criticism as well as positive feedback;
- bear the majority of any communication costs, most likely to be telephone calls;
- be prepared to review their experience and outcomes with the WIFT office.

MENTORS REGISTER
Kath Akuhata Brown (writing)
Vanessa Alexander (directing)
Mark Beesley (directing)
Philippa Campbell (producing)
Lisa Chappell (acting)
Margot Francis (editing)
Mairi Gunn (cinematography)
Rachel Lang (writing)
Angela Littlejohn (producing)
Elizabeth McRae (acting)
Robyn Malcolm (acting)
Christina Milligan (producing)
Kahra Scott James (sound/digital/business development)

APPLICATIONS
Email and postal applications for the pilot are now invited. These must include:
- a letter of application stating why you want to be part of the programme, specifying what you would like to work on, and identifying desired outcomes;
- identification of up to three mentors from the mentors list that you would like to be paired with, in order of priority, stating why you have chosen them;
- a copy of your CV.

Closing date for applications is 2 June 2008.

Submitted applications or requests for further information should be addressed to:
Anne O’Brien
Executive Director
WIFT Auckland
PO Box 90 415
Auckland
anne@wiftauckland.org.nz

T: +64 9 378 7271
M:+64 21 135 6821