From 2 to 4 June 2025, partners and mentors of the Pathways to Creative Careers (P2CC) project gathered in Skopje for the Creative Mentoring Exchange Co-Production Lab. Hosted by Press to Exit Project Space at the Socio-Cultural Space Centar Jadro, this three-day meeting was an inspiring and focused exchange on how creative professionals and educators can co-design new mentoring models for the cultural and creative sectors.

The Lab opened with an introduction by Anna Maria Piccoli and Martina Capolleti to the Pathway Model developed by MuLab, a practical and imaginative tool that invites participants to explore their creative identity through questions, reflection, and dialogue. Now available as an open resource on the project website, it encourages users to identify their starting position within their personal and professional journey while guiding them through challenges and opportunities that connect creativity, learning, and career development. From this shared foundation, the sessions in Skopje evolved around five interconnected themes that reflect the core values of the P2CC project. Throughout the first day of the Skopje Co-Production Lab, what resonated most was the openness of exchange among partners and participants who tested the Pathway Model.

The fact that we came from different educational systems, institutional contexts, and artistic traditions, yet shared a deep commitment to equipping young creatives with the confidence, awareness, and adaptability needed to sustain a creative career, was a prevailing feeling.

The discussions often returned to the question of how to make mentoring both accessible and meaningful—how to guide without prescribing, and how to create spaces that encourage critical thought and autonomy.

All partners’ contributions grounded our discussions in real experience and reminded us that mentoring in the arts is not a top-down transmission of knowledge, but a shared process of exploration built on attentiveness, dialogue, and care.

On the second day, a series of workshops were conducted around the five main topics that the P2CC consortium has acknowledged as the cornerstones of the project. Trevor Burgess and Sami Atif from Rinova Málaga, together with mentor Rhiannon Cackett, led a session on digitalisation and entrepreneurship, examining how mentors can support young creatives in navigating new technological and economic realities. Folkuniversitetet Umeå, led by Vivian Welker and Fredrik Vågberg, invited ballet teacher Alexandra Karigiani to address inclusion and equality, emphasising the importance of accessible and diverse movement-focused mentoring concepts.

The topic of the social impact of the creative arts was skilfully interpreted by Tanja Kalčić and Tanja Blašković from Urbani Separe, focusing on the social value of nourishment and its potential to generate civic engagement and community transformation. To demonstrate the concept of validation and future pathways, Anna Maria Piccoli and Martina Capolleti, together with theatre mentor Valerio Bucci, offered a session on physical and non-verbal communication. Finally, Hristina Ivanoska and Jane Chalovski of Press to Exit Project Space, together with curator and educator Bojana Janeva-Shemova, experimental artist Nikola Uzunovski, and artist Dorotej Neshovski, discussed critical thinking and media literacy as tools for understanding the cultural, social, and political contexts in which creative work unfolds. As hosts, we at Press to Exit Project Space wanted to situate the Lab firmly within Skopje’s own cultural and educational landscape. We collaborated closely with Centar Jadro, the first civil-public partnership institution in the field of culture in North Macedonia, whose space provided an ideal setting for exchange.

Additionally, we organised a public event at Europe House Skopje, which allowed us to connect our European network with the local public. We also invited several guest contributors whose work reflects the intersection of education, art, and social engagement. An interlocutor of all sessions was Press to Exit’s project manager Danche Chalovska, whose input as well as photo and video documentation of the activities proved an invaluable archive of what was shared and exchanged. Lastly, we reaffirmed the value of collaboration based on trust, curiosity, and shared purpose. The Lab reminded us that mentoring, when understood as a reciprocal process of learning and reflection, can strengthen not only individual creative careers but also the wider ecosystems that support them.

The evaluation session that concluded the Lab highlighted the importance of experiential learning and peer reflection as mentoring tools. Participants emphasised that the Co-Production Lab itself functioned as a model for how collaborative, transnational mentoring can operate in practice. As we move into the next stage of the project, it is safe to say that the Lab generated new knowledge, methodological insights, and tangible outputs that now inform the Online Guide.

Now, we can proceed further with the edtorial work ensuring consistency across the five thematic areas that now serve as a foundation for testing and refinement through the upcoming online professional development workshops, scheduled as monthly online sessions from October 2025 until February 2026. By Jane Chalovski, Artistic Director, Press to Exit Project Space
Lead Partner, WP3 – Creative Mentoring Exchange, P2CC
All photographs by Danche Chalovska, courtesy of the author and P2CC, 2025.