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This year’s Mentorship Showcase was truly inspiring. The presenters were articulate and engaged, and their projects overflowed with fresh ideas. Like all our programs, Mentorship creates space for generative small-group conversations. Everyone involved - in this case, mentees, mentors, and fellows - can learn about threats to wildlife, share empathy for animals, exchange ideas, and find opportunities for growth at the intersection of art, science, and conservation. Mentorship also creates an opportunity for the rest of us to listen in on these conversations and find inspiration. As our mentees explore what is required to live in balance with wild animals and their habitats, they forge new pathways. They show us what is possible when we bring multiple voices and perspectives together. Their works of art, design, performance, and writing create new points of entry for all of us to get involved in wildlife conservation. The possibilities are indeed endless. We could, like Altea Narici, compose music for the cello informed by what mother monk seals need to raise their young. We could create a play for kids about elephant conservation, performed by a pair of nature-loving clowns, as Login Robins did. Or, we could join Ariel Kleinberg and imagine a world of human-insect hybrids informed by the secret lives of cicadas. I could go on! We’ll be featuring these presentations and more from the Mentorship Showcase on our Creature Conserve YouTube Channel in the coming months and have just shared the first one, see below. I encourage you to check them all out! Congratulations again to all who participated this year. Mentorship Workshop applications open in July. Please visit our website at the link below for more information. Lucy Spelman - Executive Director
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