Boost Arts Education!

On September 21, 2024, the Mountain Mermaids Collective, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, is throwing a party with BBQ, live music, and a silent auction at The Todd Mercantile to raise funds for young artists in the High Country. The 2024 Mermaids Mentors program, now in its second year, is partially supported by a Watauga Arts Council Grassroots Grant, and through this event we aim to raise matching funds to meet our fundraising goal per the grant. Please come to our party and help us reach our goal! 

MERMAIDS MENTORS PROJECT

Mountain Mermaids Collective is a Todd, NC 501(c)(3) nonprofit with a mission to build an inclusive, diverse, sustainable arts community in western North Carolina. In support of that mission, we are excited to announce the development of the Mermaids Mentors Project, a program that will empower young artists of the high country through relationship development and skill building. If you’re interested in being a mentor in the future, please fill out this mentor application.

Mentee applications for the 2025 Mentors Project will open soon. Following an orientation on January 25, 2025, five mentors will be paired with five young artists (ages 13-18) from February through April, 2025. During the 3-month program, each mentee will develop their art (examples may include songwriting, painting, metal work, spoken word) one-on-one with their Mermaid Mentor. Through this process, the young artists will take their ideas from inspiration to completion, eventually sharing finished products with a larger audience and receiving feedback. This type of mentoring experience is important for all young people, but most especially for young artists. The young artists will showcase their work with their mentors at the Sirens on the Mountain Festival on May 31, 2025.

Donations

The Mermaids Mentors Project is more than an arts education project. We know that empowered young women have the ability to craft their future with passion and articulate their path forward with self assurance. Through the Mermaids Mentors Project, young artists will hone communication, develop confidence, and build a foundation of life experience.

Art provides young people with an outlet for meaningful self expression. In this program, young women will have an opportunity to develop a relationship with a local professional artist and to share their artistic vision with a larger audience. We hope that participants will recognize the importance of a dynamic and generous creative community, one in which collaborators support each other and have equal opportunity to articulate their opinions.