When talents talk

“We wanted to make an impact, to bring about change. The result exceeded our expectations,” he says Rebecca Irvindirector of philanthropic programs at Rolex Mentor and Protégé Arts Initiative which celebrated its twentieth anniversary in Athens with a week of meetings. The Rolex Arts Festival it brought together a community of international artists and involved Greek ones, also opening the doors to local audiences who participated in talk shows, performances, exhibitions and close encounters with an incredible number of talents from all over the world.

An immersive experience, an important reflection on the state of the art (the project covers music, architecture, dance, cinema, theatre, literature and visual arts), on how to nurture talent and pass it on to future generations, dialogue with one’s peers and an audience that awaits stimuli, reflections, beauty.
The masters unanimously declare that it came to reverse mentoring, in which everyone shared and learned, some with experience and some with the freshness of a new vision in a changing world. Creating a sort of “chain effect” in which the students have grown up and in turn pass on knowledge and the projects they are living.

rolex for over half a century supports the world of culture, sport and exploration, the transmission of excellence in «perpetual» motion like its watches. Since 2002 Mentor and Protégé Arts Initiative he supported 63 mentors from 29 countries and as many protégés from 41 nations. Students are given the rare opportunity to spend time with well-known artists in their field. A minimum time of six weeks over the two years, but the times have always lengthened and the relationships are not interrupted with the end of the programme. “What I learned in cinema, but also as a person and a friend, will always be with me,” he says Kyle BellNative American filmmaker who comes from Oklahoma and who Spike Lee he chose precisely to give voice to a minority not represented in cinema. “I will pass it on to my people and the next generation of filmmakers in my tribe.”

«Artists think differently and provoke us. They are the ones who make society progress, who give it a push forward,” he says Emma Gladstone, curator of the Rolex project. «We are in Athens, where the foundations of Western civilization were laid, where the theater was born and where the masters passed on their knowledge to their disciples in a sort of generational passage, and this is what happens with our program».
Protégés are selected by an Advisory Board (some have been chosen 1,350 from 120 countries) and then submitted to the mentors who decide who to hire: «I didn’t think I’d be selected. When I met my potential mentor we talked about cinema. I even asked him why he gave an award to someone who didn’t agree with me. And in the end I played magic tricks on him. Could it have been those?», he says Chaitanya Tamhaneprotégé 2016-2017 of the Mexican director Alfonso Cuaron. Seeing them together suggests that they have really found each other, two talents with an infinite passion for cinema. Chaitanya was on the set for three months Romethe film that had 10 nominations and won 3 Oscars and Tamhane himself, who had already won awards at the Venice Film Festival, won another one for best screenplay by The Disciple, produced by Cuarón, on Indian classical music. Tamhane is far from Bollywood, he is an independent, he has not studied filmography and has learned from his mistakes, but he is moved by a great passion. “It is important to relate to the younger generation, the fresh energy of the artists and understand the new and the ways to connect to young masters like Chaitanya,” said Cuarón.

When the writer appears Tahar Ben Jelloun, Edem Awumeyauthor born in Togo and his protégé in 2006, lights up and they will never be separated for all the days of the Festival.
crystal pieCanadian choreographer, was excited by the performance presented by her student Khoudia TouréSenegalese-French, who stated that «one hour of mentoring is ten years of life». Her dance is inspired by hip pop, and sends very current messages: young people who ask themselves questions about how to express themselves and have a voice. “Am I allowed to speak?” repeats one of the dancers.

On stage, during the Gala evening at Stavros Niarchos Foundationdesigned by Renzo Piano, the entries that have enriched the program over the years follow one another. “It’s a place where we can share ideas, from the past and the future, a fundamental dialogue,” he says Robert Wilson, legendary choreographer. The Brazilian singer and musician echoes him Gilberto Gilwho then participated in the concert that concluded the festival: «We have to give space to young voices and give them the opportunity to make mistakes. Dina El Wedidi it reminds me of myself, the same challenges and battles».

In the balance of twenty years of a successful formula, a question emerges insistently: how can it evolve? How can the community be expanded? This is the question that hangs in the air, especially after the announcement by the CEO of Rolex, Jean-Fréderic Dufourthat program director, Rebecca Irvin will retire at the end of the year.
The reality is that after the impetus given by Rolex, the community is expanding organically, also thanks to the projects that the protégés themselves are creating at home, with a social and political impact.

Some artists have talked about it with William Kentridge, the versatile South African artist. He himself founded The Center for the Less Good Ideas in Johannesburg in 2016, a creative incubator-space for experimenting with interdisciplinary projects.
«As a white South African I feel the responsibility to give back, even if as an artist I feel more the pleasure of collaboration».

Junaid Jemal Sendian Ethiopian dancer, he founded with a colleague Destiny Dance Companythe first school of this discipline in Addis Ababa, and in addition to teaching traditional dances combined with a contemporary vision, it carries out a program with disabled children (his mentor, the Japanese choreographer Saburo Teshigawara taught him to work with the blind).

Lara FootCEO of Baxter Theatre of Cape Town, one of the most important in the country, began in the late 1980s, when South Africa “was a world of lies, there was still apartheid, and the theater could instead tell the truth”. His desire was therefore to create a safe space for artists and open to creativity. «I want to know the stories of the community and the theater is the right place to tell them. Expanding this world is healthy.” His goal now is to open another one in the township of Khayelitsha.

In the Democratic Republic of Congo, in the mining city of Lubumbashi, in the south of the country, the scene of divisions, wars and exploitation, operates Sammy Baloji (now present at the Venice Biennale): «Society is divided, and creating a space where people can start trusting each other and doing things together is a step forward. I want to create a collective experience to share».

Speaking of architecture, Sir David Chipperfieldwhich recently received, right in Athens, the Pritzker Prize, underlined: “The climate emergency is changing our practice. Over the past 30 years, architecture has been associated with singular constructions made by singular architectures. But now there are new problems to face and this leads to having to change the way we work. The new generation must not imitate mine. Before we had to be noticed for having commissions, now the effort must be collective. It’s unexpected but I’m not surprised the dialogue between the protégés, who are thinking about projects to do together, is an interesting development of the Rolex program»».

Mariam Issoufou Kamaraarchitect from Niger, al Benaki Museum presented his project for the construction of a new mosque and the recovery of the existing one, traditional and made of mud. «I collaborated with an Iranian colleague, we asked ourselves how to work on a space normally dedicated to men and we also involved the women of the community. It was a dialogue between secular knowledge and religious practice, about how to connect an increasingly polarized world. I am constantly confronted with socio-cultural themes. When I started mentoring with Sir David Adjaye Obe I already knew what I wanted to do, I had my vision. But working with him has increased my self-confidence, strengthened me in what I want to do. I didn’t have models in Niger, this led me to say what an architect I want to be. An intangible value that goes beyond the craft».

The Rolex Arts Festival of Athens has given space to many artists, in a fluidity without barriers, inspiring all those present: the American Whitney White find in Shakespeare the ideas to write lyrics (and songs) related to today’s problems. Unpathed Waters, Undreamed Shores combine the words of the Storm to explore the themes of immigration, border crossing and unexpected human connections. Those who have listened to it have felt the desire to read it again to find, like her, the contemporaneity of the great writer. “The Bardo arrived when man first perceived the Earth as a globe. Even in the smallest and seemingly secondary character I find a story of today, an inspiration to work from».

The theater director Julie Taymor he recounted the importance of the moment that changes people’s lives: «We all have it, we must know how to seize it. I had gone to Indonesia for a few months and I stayed there for 4 years and my career began from there».
Bernardine Evaristoaward-winning British afro-descendant writer, underlined that «there are no failures, it’s all part of a creative process that can become usable or not».

The musician Zakir Hussainwho revolutionized tabla playing, brilliantly summed up the concept of mentorship: «In India we believe that the teacher does not teach, that it is the student who “encounters” the knowledge». Himself, son of the great Alla Rakha, had to convince his father that he wanted to learn. «I was three years old, and the first lesson was recognizing the sound and rhythm of the rain on different surfaces».

Past and future, curiosity, connection, pushing every possibility and opening your mind, fear of failure and mistakes, but also the dangers of success. Art is a reflection on the human condition, on the need to connect, share and even exist through self-expression. Hussain concludes: “The only question to ask is how you want to be in the world.”