SELECTED MENTORING PAIRS OF THE 5th CYCLE OF THE “CREATIVE MENTORSHIP PROGRAM”!

The team of the Creative Mentorship program, which affirms and encourages mentoring as a form of lifelong learning and the exchange of knowledge, ideas and experience between established professionals, mentors and future professionals, mentees, selected mentoring pairs the 5th cycle this year.

Finding the right mentors for 25 mentees is one of the key stages in each cycle and is a very complex task, since the mentees themselves are very successful and dedicated individuals who are already successful in the areas in which they work. Creative Mentorship has developed a “Pool of Mentors” wwith more than 150 experts in various fields, which is enhanced in each cycle by establishing collaboration with quality and successful individuals who join the program as mentors. This year, the team at the matching meeting, which proposed mentors for the participants of the 5th cycle, consisted of Jelena Kneževic (Bitef festival), Marko Radenković (Nova Iskra), Maja Lalić (Mikser), Miloš Đajić (Center for Modern Skills) and members of the Creative Membership team Dragana Jevtić, Višnja Kisić, Jelena Mihajlov, Tatjana Nikolić and Bojana Ljubišić. As in previous cycles, the mentors were pleased to be involved in the program  pro bono and thus share their knowledge and experience.

We are proud to present to you 25 mentoring couples of the 5th cycle of the Creative Mentorship program:

1. Aleksej Vasić, co-founder and CEO of Lumina Images, currently the largest and most successful photo collective in the region, to be mentored by Veronika Tasić Vušurović, business development advisor, business skills coach;
2. Bjanka Gabrić, producer, workspace manager of Nova Iskra, ffirst creative hub will work with her mentor Riley Hammersly, writer / creator from San Francisco, community manager at Nordeus;
3. Bojana Karajović, producer, executive director of  Belgrade Drama Theater, whose mentor will be Jasna Dimitrijević, director of Kolarac Endowement;
4. Bojana Petraš, senior librarian at the special library of the National Museum in Zrenjanin, whose mentor will be Ivana Jovanović Arsić, cultural manager, founder of the Kulturis organization;
5. Branislav Milićević, architect-conservator at the Provincial Institute for the Protection of Cultural Monuments, whose mentor will be Aida Vežić, secretary general of the Balkan Museum Network, consultant for the development of civil society organizations in BiH and the region;
6. Danijela Radošević, activist and program manager at the National Coalition for Decentralization, whose mentor will be Nathan Koeshall, director and co-founder of Catalyst Balkans, which supports the development and dissemination of philanthropy in the region;
7. Dragana Jakovljević, playwright, producer, program coordinator and executive director of Valjevski filmski susreti, whose mentor will be Jovana Karaulić, assistant professor at the Department of Theatre, Radio and Culture Management and Production at Faculty of Dramatic Arts;
8. Gordana Vukov Ciganjik, graduate actress, co-founder, coordinator and project manager at the Klara i Rosa organisation in Subotica, whose mentor will be Iva Čukić, director of the Urban Policy Institute, founder and program director of the Ulična Galerija;
9. Igor Marsenić, visual artist and member of the Šabac City Council in charge of cultural policy, whose mentor will be Veselin Vasiljković, senior HR consultant and coach of the Gi Group;
10. Janko Belić, a member of the K-town civil society organisation and one of the coordinators of the International Art Camp in Kosjerić, who will be mentored by Danko Nikolić, founder of the Zaječar Initiative, one of the leading civil society organizations operating outside Belgrade;
11. Jasna Brkić, BBA of Classical Philology, librarian at the Belgrade City Library at the Children’s department, whose mentor will be Nana Radenković, co-founder of Nova Iskra creative hub, founder of KidsPatch Children’s Festival and professor at the Faculty of Media and Communication in Belgrade;
12. Katarina Ivakić, entrepreneur and founder of the first body-positive community Kataliza, will be mentored by Olga Svoboda, director of solution development at TACK TMI, a global consulting and training company that successfully ran one of the leading HR companies in the region for 15 years, Gi Group HR Solutions;
13. Maida Gruden, art historian, Head of visual arts department at the Students’ City Cultural center, will be mentored by Goran Tomka, cultural scientist, docent at the Faculty of Sports and Tourism in Novi Sad and guest lecturer at the UNESCO Chair of Cultural Policy at the University of Arts in Belgrade;
14. Maja Ćurčić, music teacher, president of Art Aparat organisation, which teaches and empowers children and vulnerable social groups, to be mentored by Tatjana Obradović Tošić, entrepreneur, trainer, mentor and consultant, author of the Self-care Rebel podcast;
15. Marija Čerkez, a graduate teacher from Požarevac, whose mentor will be Tijana Pavlović, graduated teacher dealing with integrative planning, project learning and drama in education;
16. Milana Vojnović, BA in French Philology, editor of the independent portal Hoću u pozorište, whose mentor will be Anđelka Janković, producer and cultural entrepreneur, marketing manager for Bitef Festival;
17. Milena Banić,  lawyer and international consultant on human rights, environment and sustainable development, whose mentor will be Maja Lalić, architect, founder and president of the Mikser organization, creative director of the Mikser festival, expert on gender equality and sustainable development;
18. Milesa Milinković, BA of education, MA of gender studies, director of the International Film Festival Uhvati film, which will be mentored by Iva Plemić, film and festival producer, member of the executive board of the association  DokSrbija, Eurodoc alumna and deputy representative of Serbia in the cultural support fund of CoE – Eurimages;
19. Miloš Antić, ounder and president of the Jedi Movement promoting culture and activism in Niš, whose mentor will be Virdžinija Đeković, manager of numerous cultural projects, activist, PhD student at the Faculty of Dramatic Arts;
20. Miloš Milovanović, producer / presenter of N1TV, founder of BassPassion, associate of Kolarac Endowment, whose mentor will be Ivan Milivojev, co-founder of several festivals in Serbia and the region: EXIT festival, Warriors Dance Festival, Sea Dance Festival, R:EVOL:UTION festival and  #DEV9T;
21. Nikola Veljković, freelance videographer, youth leader and activist who will be mentored by Andrija Kovač, filmmaker, cinematographer, author, graphic designer;
22. Radoslav Milić, professor of Serbian language and founder of children’s drama studio Kukumiš in Ljubovija, whose mentor will be Husein Oručević, political scientist, activist and radio journalist from Mostar;
23. Tamara Belajić, communications and marketing coordinator at Novi Sad 2021 – European Capital of Culture, whose mentor will be Nebojša Krivokuća, playwright, writer and creative director at Communis DDB agency;
24. Tamara Kojić, social activist, CEO of the rural creative hub Terra Panonica – Mokrin House, whose mentor will be Mihailo Janković, CEO of Nectar Group, winner of the Youth Leadership Development Award;
25. Vanja Đurić, MA communication science, journalist for fact-checking portal Istinomer, whose mentor will be Vladimir Trkulja, co-founder of Startit, an IT and start-up scene support organization in Serbia, UNICEF and IREX associate, digital transformation expert in the program of the Serbian Chamber of Commerce.

With one year of mentoring support, participants will also have the opportunity to participate in trainings that are important for their further development, as well as to attend lectures and debates on current topics in the field of culture, study trips, and to connect and network with other engaged and active professionals this program gathers.

We are thankful to everyone who supported us in disseminating information about the program, as well as to our alumni and contributors who participated with us at various stages of this process. Special thanks to the project sponsors and partners without whom we would not be able to realize this program.

The sponsors of the fifth cycle of “Creative Mentorship” for now are the US Embassy in Serbia, MEDICON, Trizma, Titan Cement Factory Kosjerić, Coca Cola Hellenic, the Ministry of Culture and Information of the Republic of Serbia, the Embassy of Sweden in Belgrade and the French Institute in Serbia. Our partners are: Gi Group HR Solutions, Nova Iskra, Mokrin House, printing shop Vizartis, EPIC ASSISTANTS, Pamela von Sabljar, Motivtim, Danas, Designed.rs and others.