Mentor Lara Ciekiewicz (left) and mentee Hailey Witt (right) photographed backstage after a performance of Carmen.

Mentorship isn’t just about hard skills and arts business training, it’s also about passing on advice and discussing different career paths within your creative discipline. Performers Hailey Witt and Lara Ciekiewicz recently participated in the Professional Mentorship Program and shared their experience here!

What sorts of things have you been doing or talking about within your artistic discipline during this program?

We focused on technique, repertoire, observation, exploration, networking, and self-care.
– Hailey

Hailey and I have divided our one-on-one time between coffee chats, meetings, and lesson time. Chats have focused on anything from the work-life balance of a performing artist who also maintains a teaching studio, to auditioning, to self-promotion, to the ins and outs of running a business as a self-employed person. Lessons have been a great time of play and discovery with the goal of synthesizing all the parts of Hailey’s artistic practice – classical to musical theatre, and many things in between!
– Lara

How long have you been a practicing artist?

I was 5 years old when I performed in my very first musical, just over 20 years ago. I’ve been head-over-heels for the stage ever since. Until recently, many of my artistic goals have been linked to my education, so I’m excited to continue working on my arts practice in the real world.
– Hailey

I have been a practicing artist for 22 years.
– Lara

What aspect of your work brings you joy?

I love to tell stories and elicit emotions in others. I love all the levels of homework that goes into learning, interpreting, and performing a new piece of music. I love exploring. I love the challenge of all the details, and the multitasking that is required. I love connecting and collaborating with other creative artists of all ages and abilities. I love meeting extraordinary creatives and working with them. Celebrating art and creativity with other members of the arts community on and off the stage brings me great joy.
– Hailey

Connecting with people through music is the most joyful part of my work – and it happens on the performing, and the teaching side. Opera, in particular, is such a human art form. So many people come together to allow the magic on stage to happen. I am so lucky to learn from and work with artists on all sides of the stage – crew, wardrobe, makeup, builders, instrumentalists, conductors, directors, administrators, my fellow-singers, and more. The collective knowledge and storytelling ability amongst these folks is ENORMOUS. When this all comes together in the story on stage and flies out to an audience? That’s the best. It takes a whole village. That village makes me a better artist every time, and that’s the joy!
– Lara

Now that the program has ended, what have you taken away from the Professional Mentorship Program? Is there anything that really excited you in your time together?

My mentorship with Lara was affirming, playful, and interdisciplinary. Working with Lara has affirmed for me that I can bring my full self to my craft and that all artists are people first. Even the artists that completely blow your mind are, in fact, just human beings. Approach them. Ask questions. Take risks.
– Hailey

It is always a privilege to have someone trust you to guide them through questions with which they are grappling. Watching Hailey continue to step into who she is as a performing artist and teacher has been both beautiful, and inspiring in my own work. She has reminded me that I have knowledge that can be passed on, as it was passed to me. She’s also reminded me that we should always question what we choose to pass on – passing on advice and knowledge that allows people and their art to grow, leaving behind structures and ways of doing that no longer serve either. I’ve seen Hailey grown in confidence, and in her craft. It has been fantastic to watch her use her voice in new ways, and to also connect her to colleagues on the teaching and performing side of things!
– Lara