Cover Grammy winner Dianne Reeves is one of the new mentors for Rolex Mentor and Protégé Arts Artists of 2023 & 2024

During the Rolex Arts Weekend held at New York’s Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM), five new artists were announced for the Rolex Mentor and Protégé Arts initiative

Launched in 2002, the Rolex Mentor and Protégé Arts Initiative promotes excellence through the transference of knowledge from one generation of artists to the next. There have been 63 pairs of mentor-protégé since its establishment, with past mentors being filmmaker Zhang Yimou, Broadway playwright Lin-Manuel Miranda, and late author Toni Morrison

Under this two-year mentorship programme, younger artists with exceptional promise will have the opportunity to learn from one another in the hopes of invigorating their art. 

See also: Rolex Is Helping Cinema To Build Its Legacy

Read on to discover who the five new pairs of mentor-protégé, in the fields of architecture, literature, visual arts, music and film, are:

Tatler Asia
Spike Lee (right) mentored Native American filmmaker Kyle Bell in the 2021 & 2022 edition of the Rolex Mentor and Protégé Arts Initiative
Above Oscar-winning filmmaker Spike Lee (right) mentored Native American filmmaker Kyle Bell in the 2021 & 2022 edition of the Rolex Mentor and Protégé Arts Initiative

Architecture: Anne Lacaton and Arine Aprahamian

Tatler Asia
Above Anne Lacaton and Arine Aprahamian

A Laureate of the 2021 Pritzker Architecture Prize, Anne Lacaton of Paris-based design outfit Lacaton & Vassal is known for designs that maximise the discipline’s human and environmental potential, and make sustainable use of what already exists. Her protégé is Arine Aprahamian, a Lebanese-Armenian architect who also champions an innovative, affordable and sustainable vision of the future through architecture. 

Literature: Bernardine Evaristo and Ayesha Harruna Attah

Tatler Asia
Above Bernardine Evaristo and Ayesha Harruna Attah

Mentor and first person of colour to win the 2019 Booker Prize for her book, Girl, Woman, Other, Benardine Evaristo explores the African diaspora in her works, be it poetry or fiction. She is also the president of the Royal Society of Literature.

See also: Editor’s Picks: World Book Day Edition

Her protégé, Ayesha Harruna Attah, is a Senegal-based Ghanaian author who has published five novels and was a finalist in the William Saroyan International Prize for Writing. She was also long-listed for the Prix Les Afriques and shortlisted for the Wilbur Smith Adventure Writing Prize.

Visual Arts: El Anatsui and Bronwyn Katz

Tatler Asia
Above El Anatsui and Bronwyn Katz

Ghanaian artist El Anatsui's works—from painting to sculpture—embrace natural elements—water, wind, wood, clay, stone, metal and more. He was awarded the Venice Biennale’s Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement and Japan’s Praemium Imperiale.

He will be mentoring Bronwyn Katz, a Cape Town-based artist and winner of the prestigious First National Bank Art Prize 2019 also uses natural materials as a basis of her art.

Music: Dianne Reeves and Song Yi Jeon

Tatler Asia
Above Dianne Reeves and Song Yi Jeon

Five-time Grammy winner and mentor Dianne Reeves is known for her powerful vocals with a unique jazz and R&B style. Her protégé Song Yi Jeon is a South Korean modern jazz singer and composer who had won the Billboard Endowed Award and was a Quincy Jones CJ&E fellow. 

Film: Jia Zhang-Ke and Rafael Manuel

Tatler Asia
Above Jia Zhang-Ke
Tatler Asia
Above Rafael Manuel

Chinese filmmaker Jia Zhang-Ke is one of a visionary filmmaker whose Still Life won the Golden Lion at the 2006 Venice Film Festival; the film also garnered him the Best Director prize at the Asian Film Awards.

Europe-based Filipino filmmaker Rafael Manuel will be mentored by him. Manuel had won the Silver Bear Jury Prize at the 2020 Berlin International Film Festival for his short film, Filipiñana. He is the co-founder of the international artist collective and film production company, Idle Eye Productions.

YOU MAY ALSO LIKE

The Future of Chinese Opera in Malaysia

Why Rolex Invested in a Film Museum

MB&F’s Max Büsser on His Addiction to Creativity