LIAA Internal Mentorship Programme 2026 Comes to a Close

2026-10-01

From spring to autumn, four LIAA members took part in the Internal Mentorship Programme, dedicated to reflecting on and developing their creative and professional practices. This year’s mentors were artist and researcher Geistė Marija Kinčinaitytė and curator, editor and producer Vitalija Jasaitė. The programme participants were Augustina Lavickaitė, Donata Minderytė, Katažyna Jankovska and Kamilė Pikelytė.

Katažyna Jankovska and Kamilė Pikelytė worked with Vitalija Jasaitė. Katažyna is a curator, researcher and writer working between Rotterdam and Vilnius, whose interests include the shifting relationships between humans, technology and natural systems, experimental art forms, and alternative models of cultural organisation. Kamilė is a Vilnius-based visual artist whose installations and performances incorporate found materials, physical remnants, and domestic and industrial objects to explore human relationships with non-human forms of life.

Their sessions focused largely on planning their professional and creative trajectories: developing projects, exploring funding opportunities and clarifying priorities. They discussed how to identify relevant opportunities, plan the implementation of projects, and translate ideas into concrete next steps. Openly sharing professional experience also became an important part of the process, creating space to discuss different models of working in the cultural field, strategies that had proved effective, as well as those that had not worked in the mentor’s own professional experience.

Donata Minderytė and Augustina Lavickaitė worked with Geistė Marija Kinčinaitytė. Donata is a painter whose practice also encompasses photography and moving image, exploring different approaches to creating and translating images. Augustina works across visual research and information design, bringing together design, research and strategy.

The sessions in this group repeatedly returned to the question of where each participant currently found herself in her practice and how she wanted to develop it further. They revisited existing material and discussed ways of structuring it, the relationship between photography and moving image, the continuity of research, and ways of bringing together different forms of expression. One direction that emerged during the process was the continuation of an existing research project combining text and video reportage. The conversations also helped identify what supports or hinders the creative process and what conditions are needed to sustain an ongoing practice.

During the programme’s concluding reflection, participants highlighted a clearer understanding of their practices and professional directions, more concrete plans for their next steps, and practical knowledge around funding, applications and project development. Equally important was the opportunity to pause regularly, revisit work already done, and view their practices from another perspective. The importance of a collegial relationship within the mentorship process also emerged across both groups.

In reflecting on the programme’s format, participants responded positively to the structure of four sessions and the flexibility it allowed. At the same time, the reflection highlighted the value of defining individual mentorship goals and expectations more clearly at the beginning of the process. LIAA will take these insights forward in planning the next edition of the Internal Mentorship Programme.

LIAA activities are financed by the Lithuanian Council for Culture.