Section 00
Inclusion and Equality
Why inclusion and equality aren’t just ethical commitments in creative mentoring, and how the conditions we create for young people directly shape what creativity itself becomes possible.
Section 01
Introduction
Creativity flourishes in environments where individuals feel secure, valued, and free to share their unique perspectives. In arts education and mentoring, inclusion and equality are not just aspirational values – they are the very foundation that allows creativity to emerge and grow. When everyone has equal access and truly feels they belong, the conditions are set for authentic creative expression and collaboration.
Inclusion in mentoring creative youth can be described as actively creating an environment where all young people feel welcomed, respected, and valued, regardless of their background, abilities, or identities. Equality in this context means ensuring that all have equal access to the opportunities, support, and resources within the mentoring program. It is about treating everyone fairly and providing each young person with what they need to succeed.
When young people feel included and see that their differences are acknowledged and respected, they are more likely to take creative risks, share their ideas, and collaborate meaningfully with others. A truly inclusive environment encourages exploration, experimentation, and the breaking down of internal and external barriers that may otherwise inhibit self-expression. Equality ensures that every voice can be heard and that no one is left behind, making the creative space richer, more diverse, and more dynamic.
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In a broader educational and socio-cultural context, fostering inclusion and equality through the arts has the power to build bridges between individuals and communities. Art becomes not only a means of personal expression but also a catalyst for dialogue, empathy, and social cohesion. It can challenge stereotypes, open minds, and help participants envision new possibilities for themselves and society.
At Folkuniversitetet, our commitment to inclusion and equality is rooted in our belief that creativity is a universal human capacity. By upholding these values, we help ensure that creative spaces are accessible, inspiring, and transformative for all, enabling every participant to contribute their story, develop their talents, and connect with others in meaningful ways. In this way, inclusion and equality are not just educational priorities; they are the very foundation on which lasting creativity and cultural vitality are built.
Inclusion in mentoring creative youth can be described as actively creating an environment where all young people feel welcomed, respected, and valued, regardless of their background, abilities, or identities.
Equality in mentoring creative youth can be described as ensuring that all have access to the same opportunities, support, and resources within the mentoring program. It is about treating everyone fairly and providing each young person with what they need to succeed.
Section 02
Tools and Resources
Gender equality strategy 2026-2030
The European Commission adopted the Gender Equality Strategy 2026-2030 on 5 March 2026. The strategy puts forward concrete actions to embed gender equality into every aspect of life, both online and offline, from education and health to work and leadership. It enlarges the scope of the previous strategy by covering all the principles of the Roadmap for Women’s Rights, which was endorsed by all Member States in 2025. In addition to ensuring that recently adopted gender equality legislation is duly implemented, the strategy tackles new threats such as gender-based cyberviolence, anti-gender narratives and AI-related risks, which particularly affect women.
Towards gender equality in the cultural and creative sectors
This report focuses on the role that culture plays in promoting gender equality and, more importantly, how to achieve gender equality within the cultural and creative sectors (CCS).
Inclusive arts practice: reaching new understanding of what is truly inclusive
Alice Fox’s research at the University of Brighton is establishing a deeper understanding of truly inclusive practice, evolving the concept of expanded listening, a way of being with and responding to another person.
Faculty Advancing Inclusive Mentoring
The FAIM Resource Center supports faculty and their mentees in their development and advancement of mentee-centered and strengths-based mentoring practices within graduate education and the professoriate. The FAIM framework comprises a mentoring philosophy, key principles, and practical tools and resources that benefit both mentors and mentees.
Mentoring for inclusion: A scoping review of the litterature
This article explores and summarizes the characteristics and findings in Norwegian research on mentoring for inclusion, using a scoping literature review. Mentoring matches younger or less experienced individuals with non-parental mentors to provide support and promote skills, personal development, and/or attainment of specific goals, such as employment.
Mentor handbook – for mentors supporting students in higher education
With this handbook, the National Agency for Special Needs Education and Schools (SPSM) and Stockholm University aim to provide support by providing practical advice on how mentors can approach the mentorship. The handbook includes checklists and exercises that can be printed or saved to be filled out digitally.
Inclusive Mentorship Skill Development
Inclusive mentoring refers to a type of mentor-mentee relationship in which both parties learn from each other and benefit from the relationship, and is intended to lower the power imbalance and make the relationship more accessible and equitable to people from all backgrounds and identities. In this model, mentors connect with the student around their different identities. This is one distinct, thematic section from the guidebook ARC-Learn Practitioner Guidebook: Practical Considerations for Implementing an Alternative Model of Undergraduate Research Experience.
Section 03
Cross-Thematic Resources
Section 04
Topic-Related Activities
Workshop Context & Background
description
Section 05
Mentor Insights
Mats Norrgård
Musical Growth Without Limits
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Mats Norrgård is a music teacher and an active composer for video game music, who has created music in many different genres, ranging from orchestral pieces to pop and metal. He has worked as a music teacher for 17 years, teaching young people in schools, and today he supports individual mentees with vocal development and songwriting processes.
Mats highlights that one of the most central aspects of inclusive mentorship is not making assumptions but meeting each person without prejudice and creating an environment characterized by openness and lack of preconceptions. The mentorship always begins with a process of relationship building, where the mentees inspirations, goals, preferred ways of working, and special needs are identified. Based on this, suggestions for the structure are presented, which they agree upon together. During the mentorship, follow-up questions are asked to ensure that the person is satisfied with the current approach or to identify any adjustments that need to be made.
Mats says one should be sensitive to each student’s abilities but also dare to challenge them. He believes it is important to set learning objectives beyond what the person already knows – to quickly identify new goals and provide the person with tasks and support that help them reach those goals, which may be beyond what the mentee initially thought was possible.
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Ingela Bäckman
Safe Spaces for Creative Expression
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Ingela Bäckman is a ceramic artist, sculptor, and educator with over 20 years of teaching experience. In addition to her own classes, she serves as course coordinator for arts and crafts at Folkuniversitetet.
Ingela explains that inclusion and equality are fundamental principles throughout all her teaching, and that a structured and inclusive approach helps create a sense of security for participants, something especially important when working with groups with special needs. By preparing materials in advance and ensuring that everyone works with the same technique, all participants are given an equal starting point, which helps reduce stress and feelings of exclusion. Clear instructions and a consistent working method foster calm and a sense of community within the group, while also supporting those who need extra structure. She also varies the creative environment offering both quiet and social spaces for creative work so participants can choose what suits them best. The teacher’s role is not only to share knowledge, but also to build relationships by seeing, talking to, and getting to know each individual and their work. By being willing to share something of herself, she builds trust, which is crucial for inclusion and equality. This requires time and commitment, and sometimes two leaders are needed to meet everyone’s needs in group mentoring. The focus is always on reinforcing what works well for the participants and creating an environment where everyone feels safe to express themselves creatively.
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Alexandra Karagianni
Tailored mentoring
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Alexandra Karagianni is a professional dance teacher educated in Germany. She started dancing as a child in Umeå and in 2022 she returned and began teaching at the Ballet Academy.
One approach I have found particularly effective when mentoring young people in dance is creating space for every voice to be heard, regardless of personality or social position within the group. Teenagers are often highly aware of status and peer perception, which can make it difficult for some to express themselves openly.
When working with groups, I use anonymous or semi-anonymous participation techniques. For example, I ask a series of reflective yes-or-no questions while everyone has their eyes closed. The students respond by raising their hands, knowing that no one else can see who answered what. This creates a sense of safety and allows even the more reserved students to express themselves honestly. I also invite students to write down their wishes or feedback anonymously on paper, which only I read, giving them another safe channel to express themselves.
With more advanced groups, I have used a more interactive exercise. Each student writes their personal goals for the coming year—one goal per Post-it note. They then place the notes on their clothes and move around the room, reading each other’s notes. When they meet someone, they can take notes they relate to and add them to themselves. After some time, all notes have circulated, and we gather as a group while I collect and summarize the themes. This activity builds connection and highlights shared ambitions, while reinforcing that all goals are equally valid and that everything is okay to express. It creates a sense of safety, openness, and trust within the group.
When mentoring one-on-one, my approach shifts to dialogue. I ask about the individual’s goals, wishes, and development, creating a more personal and supportive space.
Over time, these approaches help build trust and reduce the impact of social hierarchy, fostering a more inclusive and equal environment.
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Janna-Li Janke
Combining freedom with support for creative growth
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Janna-Li Janke is a trained violinist with almost 20 years’ experience as a teacher. She is working with young people with ADHD and autism and has an autism diagnosis herself.
I am working with young people with ADHD and autism. Some of them identify as transgender. One thing I have found works well when mentoring young people within creative fields such as music, crafts, and arts is creating a safe space where expression comes before perfection. Many young people, particularly those who have faced challenges, carry a fear of being judged or “getting it wrong.” By emphasizing that there is no single correct way to create, I help lower those barriers and invite them to participate on their own terms. This means focusing on process rather than outcome. When someone is given the freedom to explore without evaluation, they begin to trust their own ideas and develop confidence in their abilities.
A young person that has experienced exclusion often has a hard time trusting adults. I put in a lot of time and effort to gain their trust. Consistency and presence are equally important. By showing up, being engaged, remain interested in their creative process, and offering respectful feedback, I build trust over time. This trust makes it easier to have honest conversations about equality, representation, and inclusion. Ultimately, what works best is combining freedom with support: giving young people room to create while ensuring they feel safe, valued, and included.
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Milton Tegenfeldt
Pair work for personal expression
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Milton Tegenfeldt, is 20 years old and works as a dance teacher as well as taking lessons as a student.
When I mentor young people in a dance studio, I use different methods to relieve stress and make the learning experience as fun as possible for the students. And as a person who is also a student a lot of the time I like to take in my own experiences as a way to form a plan for my own lessons.
A dance studio is a very intimate and stressful environment for a lot of young people who never want to look bad or are scared to really express themselves because of what other peers might think. That is why I try to let my students work in pairs a lot of the time, and there are multiple reasons for why I choose to do this!
First of all, it is a great way for the students to get to know one another. They meet and work with a new person each week, so they meet different personalities every time which helps them to get more comfortable and feel more included in the group since they always have someone to work with.
It is also great for them to get a new perspective on the instructions I give. When they work in pairs, they get input from another person who isn’t me, and I find that it’s often easier for them to learn from each other and ask each other questions than learning by themselves.
And lastly, when they work in pairs, they are all equals and I let them take their time on each exercise so that both people get comfortable with the steps since some people are quicker than others at picking up choreography.
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Section 06
Documentation
Photo Gallery
Videos
Janna-Li Janke practicing scales on the violin with Amanda Nilsson and Taran Janke-Anderberg
Section 07
Online Workshop Output
Workshop Summary
Folkuniversitetet recently led a workshop focused on inclusion and equality within creative mentoring. During the session, creative mentors shared their experiences and strategies for adapting their mentoring approaches to foster genuinely inclusive environments that meet the diverse needs of their mentees.
A central theme throughout the workshop was the importance of building authentic and trusting relationships between mentors and mentees. Participants emphasized that effective mentoring must begin with getting to know the mentee as a whole person: emotionally, creatively, and culturally. By meeting mentees where they are and cultivating a relaxed and informal atmosphere, mentors can build trust, encourage open communication, and help mentees feel safe enough to express their creative goals and support needs. Active listening, careful observation, and the creation of a safe space were described as essential for making mentees comfortable and engaged.
Mentors are encouraged to use a broad range of approaches to understand their mentees better. This includes asking open-ended questions, providing various forms of creative expression such as writing, drawing, or movement, and offering low-pressure opportunities for participation. Setting clear expectations and boundaries, while sharing aspects of their own experiences, can help humanise mentors and foster mutual respect and vulnerability.
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The workshop also explored how inclusion and equality manifest differently in individual versus group mentoring. One-on-one mentoring allows for highly personalized support, particularly benefiting those who may be shy or marginalized. The challenge lies in ensuring that mentors do not impose their own preferences and remain flexible to the evolving needs of the mentee. In group settings, diversity can enrich the creative process and encourage empathy, but it also requires careful attention to group dynamics, power balances, and cultural sensitivity. Equity – adapting support to individual needs – is often more important than strict equality.
Ultimately, the mentors agreed that adapting their approaches and prioritizing inclusion leads to richer creative outcomes for everyone involved.
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