Artistic Pursuit

Since its inception in 2002, the Rolex Mentor and Protégé programme has been granting young artists the gift of knowledge and time to unleash their creativity

- Stephanie Zubiri

"If you're a teacher and you're not learning from your students, then you're not really teaching, are you?" challenges filmmaker Spike Lee during a Mentor Panel Discussion of the Rolex Arts Weekend celebrated at the Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM) this past September 10, 2022. Affirming the fluid and collaborative aspects of mentorship, the multi-awarded director and professor is one of four extraordinary personalities perpetuating the tradition of cascading knowledge and wisdom of their craft to young artists as part of the 20202022 Rolex Mentor and Protégé Arts Initiative.

"The next generation are all important to me, and I look to them as my mentors," echoes British director Phyllida Lloyd, the genius behind the hit musical Mamma Mia! and mentor for the Theatre Category, who shares her excitement to work with protégé Whitney White, a multi-gifted musical theatre artist. Lloyd exudes, "Maybe she doesn't need a mentor, but I do, and she could be it. She can sit down at the piano and blow you away with her compositions, direct a play, act in it; there's not much she can't do." Throughout the weekend's series of talks, intimate conversations, and a multi-disciplinary showcase of the fruit of their two-year long artistic collaborations, this feeling of mutual respect and admiration was palpable in both mentors and protégés. Other notable mentors in this cycle were artist Carrie Mae Weems for Visual Arts and singer, songwriter, director and producer Lin-Manuel Miranda for the Open Category. Other protégés included Native American filmmaker Kyle Bell, Colombian mixed media visual artist Camila Rodríguez Triana, and Argentinian filmmaker Agustina San Martín.