cma touring mentorship program

The CMA Touring Mentorship Program gives early-career touring professionals access to experienced professionals in their desired fields. Throughout the program, mentees meet with their mentors monthly over 6 months and discuss best practices in their role, trends in the industry, and receive real-world experience through shadowing and projects. The program begins with a kick-off for mentees and mentors to meet and set the rest of their program meetings, and the program ends with a celebration of their work and a chance to share what they’ve learned. In 2024, the program runs from April to October and includes 7 mentors: a Tour Manager, a Band Leader/Musician, a Production Manager, a Production Assistant, a Front of House Engineer, a Monitor Engineer, and a Lighting Director/Designer.

Though mentors have already been selected for the 2024 program, if you are interested in serving as a mentor for a future program, please email us at [email protected].

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QUALIFICATIONS & HOW TO APPLY

Mentees should have less than 5 years of experience in their career field or field of interest and be able to commit to meeting with their mentor for at least 2 hours per month for a six-month period. Mentees must be CMA Members.

Applications for the inaugural 2024 cohort are now closed. Stay tuned for information on a future cohort!

SCHEDULE

  • Late March – Mentors and mentees notified of pairing
  • April 9 – Mentorship Kickoff and Mixer (5pm)
  • April – Meeting 1*
  • May – Meeting 2*
  • June – Meeting 3*
  • July – Meeting 4*
  • August – Meeting 5*
  • September – Meeting 6*
  • October 8 – Mentorship Closing Celebration and Mixer

*Exact mentorship meeting dates to be agreed upon by mentor/mentee pair

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mentorship program content

Each mentor has developed a curriculum and topics of discussion for the 6 planned meetings. The mentor/mentee pair will customize pieces of it based on the interest and experience level of the mentee.

The pair will also decide what type of project or scenario would be a valuable exercise for the mentor and mentee to work together on over the term of the mentorship.