2024 Mentors

An important part of our Creators’ Fund+ awardees’ journeys is mentoring. Whilst funding is vital, mentoring can prove, in some cases more valuable.

We are delighted to announce our professional mentors who have 5+ years in their respective industries and will be working with their awardees.

  • Aarti Joshi is a Coach, Presenter, Artist Manager & Marketing Consultant.  

    She set up Coaching & Wellness company, Freedom & Joy with business partner Sharon Stephen in 2022. Their clients include Visibility Scotland, Connect Festival, Wandern Media, Salad, Aura Agency and many more. After being coached by The Handel Group, Aarti experienced first-hand the difference that being coached could make and trained as a Transformational Coach with Animas UK in 2021. She is a naturally curious and analytical person, who enjoys helping others find their joy and reach their goals. 

    As a Presenter, she hosts the Go Radio Sunday Session every Sunday evening as well as the weekly Out, Out! podcast on The Big Light network, with STV’s Laura Boyd, Clyde 1 Presenter & DJ Cassi and Chef/Presenter, Julie Lin. Out, Out! has already put on two sold out live shows at August House and one at Connect Festival before the podcast turned a year old!  Despite only having been a presenter since 2021 – in addition to the radio show and podcast, she has hosted a stage at George Square during the UCI World Cycling Championships, hosted a panel for Royal Bank Mentor Match programme and participated in panel discussions for Close the Gap, Vega, Royal Bank and Skiddle to name a few.

    Instagram aartijo_

  • Carla has a research-based practice driven by stories of heritage, place and artefact, creating work that responds directly to objects and buildings. She is interested in deep mapping and object biography as ways to understand and recontextualize history within contemporary society. Her work is thoughtful and conversational, highlighting connections between things that may be otherwise hidden.

    These links and stories dictate the medium and materials she uses, and new pieces of work often necessitate learning new skills or collaboration with other creatives. Her most recent works include a dining table installation reflecting on indigenous and European seal hunting practices, inspired by a 1950’s sealskin waistcoat, and an AR presentation inside a Victorian mansion with international and colonial connections, both of which strive to derive contemporary conversation from their historical contexts.

    Initially a theatre designer, Carla co-owned an arts retreat for 15 years and has an extensive background in arts project management working with creatives, communities and public sector. This year she has been invited to create work in response to St Mary’s Episcopal Cathedral Edinburgh, which will form the basis of her new Graduate in Residence role at Grays School of Art, Robert Gordon University Aberdeen.

    Image Credit: Nicole Paterson

    Instagram: @carlaeveangus

  • Hannah Lavery is a poet and playwright from Edinburgh. Her debut poetry collection Blood Salt Spring (Polygon) was nominated for a Saltire Prize in 2022, her second collection Unwritten Woman was published by Polygon in August 2024.

    Hannah is the former Makar (poet laureate) for the City of Edinburgh, co-host of feminist arts podcast QuineCast and was an Associate Artist at National Theatre Scotland (NTS) her plays for NTS The Drift and Lament for Sheku Bayoh and The Protest have toured extensively. She has written for a wide range of Theatre companies, broadcasters and publications including BBC Radio 4 and the Guardian.

    Hannah lives, breathes and dreams on the beaches and cliffs of Scotland’s East Coast, with her dreaming often taking her back to the streets and closes of Edinburgh.

    Instagram: @lavery.hannah

    X: @hanlavery

  • Saziso Phiri is a UK-based curator, producer, creative consultant, and writer working nationally and internationally. Her expertise spans curating art exhibitions, developing cultural programmes, artist development, and advising arts organisations on strategy. She is currently Associate Artistic Director at New Art Exchange in Nottingham and Co-Chair of Contemporary Visual Arts East Midlands (CVAN EM). 

    Dedicated to expanding arts engagement, Saziso explores innovative curatorial methods to encourage meaningful dialogue between artists and audiences and has curated and produced exhibitions featuring artists such as Enam Gbewonyo, Hetain Patel, Zohra Opoku, Michaela Yearwood-Dan and Rene Matić to name a few. Her curatorial and producing work has been reviewed and featured in publications such as The Guardian, Hypebeast, Aesthetica Magazine, Art Review and Artplugged.

    Saziso also mentors artists at all career stages and regularly participates in open-call panels for exhibitions and residencies. She has contributed to artist and curator development initiatives and programming through 1-2-1s, workshops, lectures, crit sessions, artist residency management and studio visits with Nottingham Contemporary, Gasworks, De Montfort University, University of Lincoln, University, Sheffield Hallam University, Jerwood Arts, British Council, Leicester Museums, City Arts Nottingham, Format International Photography Festival, Contemporary Arts Visual Network and UK New Artists (UKNA) amongst others.

    Image credit: Svitlana Kolesnichenko

    Website: sazisophiri.com

    Instagram: @saziso__

  • Ade Adesina is an artist living and working in Aberdeen, Scotland. Having previously studied printmaking at Gray’s School of Art, Robert Gordon University, Aberdeen, he graduated in 2012. Adesina is a Royal Scottish Academician an Associate member of The Royal Society of Painters and Printmakers, and a member of The London Group. He has had artist residencies at Eton College, Glasgow Print Studio, Gray’s School of Art, Aberdeen, Engramme, Quebec, Canada, and Fossekleiva Kultursenter Berger Museum, Norway 2024. More recently, he was awarded the Mario Avati Engraving Prize 2023 from the Academie des Beaux-Arts, France.

    Ade's work is a visual commentary around the ideas of ecology and our ever-changing world. The Artist remains engaged in current affairs, referencing cultural narratives within a socio-political context. He is a traditional printmaker, painter, and sculptor. The artist combines cultures, producing work that makes people reflect on the past, present, and future.

    Photographer credit- Lee Garson

    https://x.com/AdeAdesinaink

    https://www.instagram.com/adeadesina/

    https://www.facebook.com/art.adesina

  • Clementine E Burnley is a small and large group facilitator, creative
    coach and writer. She lives between Berlin and Edinburgh.

    Instagram: @Ewokila

    Website: https://clementineburnley.com/uber/

  • Joseph A. Adesunloye is an award-winning British/Nigerian writer-director-producer whose work crosses film and TV. He was selected for Locarno Film Festival’s - Locarno Pro First Look on UK Film 2023, for his new feature VANILLA starring Yann Gaël (1899, Saloum) and James Smith (The Favourite, The Thick of It).

    Joseph was nominated for the BFI IWC Schaffhausen Filmmakers Bursary Award at the 60th BFI London Film Festival. In 2017 Joseph was longlisted ‘Best Debut Screenwriter’ at BIFA.

    His second feature FACES premiered at the Durban International Film Festival in 2018, where it was nominated for ‘Best International Feature’, and won ‘Best Feature’ at the Durban LGBT Film Festival; the film stars Terry Pheto from Oscar winning Tsotsi.

    He has written several commissioned TV scripts and currently has several TV projects in development.

    Joseph guest lectures at the University of the Arts London and for the NYU Tisch School of the Arts at the National Film & Television School (NFTS).

    He is a member of BAFTA and Directors UK and has been a trustee at the Film and TV Charity since 2019. 

    Website: https://www.josephadesunloye.com

    Instagram: joseph.adesunloye

    X: @jadesunloye

    Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jadesunloye

    LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joseph-a-adesunloye-ab59a611

  • Vanessa Kanbi is a Scottish Ghanaian multifaceted creator making waves in the digital realm. She’s more than just a travel content creator; Vanessa is a passionate advocate dedicated to showcasing African countries in a positive light. Boasting over 200,000 social followers and 30 million views on her YouTube channel, she is currently serving as an expert judge on BBC’s "Scotland’s Greatest Escape" and has been featured in BAFTA-nominated “Black and Scottish,” as well as other TV shows. Beyond the screen, Vanessa has hosted podcasts such as BBC Sounds Podcast "Word Up!" Her influence extends to the pages of British Vogue and she was chosen by YouTube as one of YouTube Black’s Creator Class. Vanessa Kanbi is redefining storytelling and leaving an indelible mark on the digital landscape.

    Image Credit : @stnlens / Chantal Azari

    Instagram : @vanessakanbi

    YouTube : https://www.youtube.com/vanessakanbi

    TikTok : @vanessakanbi

  • Shireen Taylor is an arts producer and administrator who has worked in the Scottish visual arts sector for over 25 years. She is currently a Co-Director with Lydia Honeybone at Offline (formerly Glasgow Artists' Moving Image Studios), and the Finance and Development Lead at Scottish Contemporary Art Network (SCAN). She has worked as a freelance producer for Panel, Cove Park and Wave Particle as well as setting up The Hidden Noise (2012 - 2018) with curator Sandra Ross. Recent projects include: Farang / The Ground is Not Unchanging in collaboration with Mina Heydari-Waite / Offline, CineRoma in collaboration with Romano Lav / Offline, Instant Whip the textiles and papers of Fraser Taylor in collaboration with Fraser Taylor / Panel and Seals'kin in collaboration with Hanna Tuulikki / Offline.

For all questions relating to Creators’ Fund+, please email hello@weareherescotland.com