Rolex's Mentor and Protégé Arts Initiative began pairing masters of different artistic disciplines with protégés in 2002. Since, 50 emerging and talented artists have had the benefit of establishing a working relationship with artists at the top of their fields. 

Director Alfonso Cuarón and Protégé Chaitanya Tamhane (photo: Rolex/©Rolex/Audoin Desforges)

Rolex just released the names of the protégés selected for their 2016-2017 program. I listed the mentors for this cycle in a previous post. They include Mexican director Alfonso Cuarón, photographed above with his protégé Chaitanya Tamhane of India.

Vietnamese multimedia artist Thao-Nguyen Phan was chosen by visual artist Joan Jonas. “I am moved by Joan’s [Jonas] extraordinary power to reinvent, being so groundbreaking from one work to the next. This innovative spirit is something that I deeply admire and want to learn from her,” she said. The pair is photographed below by Robert Wright. 

>>BACK TO ARTS

The Rolex Mentor and Protege Arts Initiative is a philanthropic program started by the company in 2002 that pairs masters of different artistic disciplines with proteges that are selected by anonymous panels. 

The proteges are meant to spend 6 weeks with their mentors over the course of a year, though most spend far more time together. The masters either allow the protege to observe them at work or work on collaborative projects together. 

Once selected, proteges receive $25,000 Swiss francs and a stipend for travel and expenses involved in the program. At the end of the program, an additional $25,000 Swiss francs is available to any protege who chooses to create new work with it. Mentors receive an honorarium of $75,000 Swiss francs to compensate for their time and expenses in partaking in the program. Past mentors include Margaret Atwood, Toni Morrison, Alejandro Iñárritu and Martin Scorsese.

The mentors for Cycle 8, which begins in 2016, were announced on December 6, 2015 during Rolex Arts Weekend, an event marking the end of the 2014 - 2015 cycle, at Centro Cultural del Bosque's Teatro Julio Castillo in Mexico City.