It’s been said that behind every artist is another great artist. The legacy of mentorship runs deep throughout the history of art. The best and brightest of one generation teach the next, who educate those behind them—a chain linked throughout the ages. Perhaps, in a way, the saying shouldn’t be those who can’t do teach, but rather those who can do should teach. Encouraging mentor-protégé relationships can go a long way towards ensuring art forms such as film remain vibrant and inventive. But these pairings need support to thrive, and Rolex is committed to building and maintaining effective mentorship interactions.
For more than half a century, Rolex has partnered with some of the world’s most talented artists and leading cultural institutions to celebrate excellence and contribute to perpetuating artistic heritage, creating a link between the past, present and future.
Through its Perpetual Arts Initiative, a broad portfolio of arts that extends through music, architecture, cinema and the mentoring program, Rolex confirms its long-term commitment to global culture.
Rolex understands the value of generational thinking and teaching. Its famous and skilled watchmakers have mentored the next generation for nearly a century, ensuring that quality and craftsmanship remain at the heart of every timepiece.
The Rolex Mentor and Protégé Arts Initiative (or mentoring program), established in 2002, continues in that long tradition and facilitates conversation between established and up-and-coming artists, highlighted by a minimum of six weeks of one-on-one creative collaboration. It's an ambitious and incredibly diverse initiative that seeks to extend and perpetuate the world’s cultural heritage.
In the two decades since the program launched, Rolex has highlighted specific disciplines, film, theatre, the visual arts, literature, music, dance and architecture. The mentor and protégé pairings over the years have showcased the promise of the future being nurtured by living legends in film: Spike Lee and Kyle Bell, Alfonso Cuarón and Chaitanya Tamhane, Martin Scorsese and Celina Murga, among many others.
How many arts mentoring programs can boast the breadth and strength of an artistic community that in only two decades has expanded across 120 countries, with the support of hundreds of artistic advisors worldwide? Thus far 63 world-renowned artists have mentored 63 of their young, aspiring peers in the Rolex program. This remarkable global community is one of the program’s greatest achievements, encouraging an international dialogue across generations, cultures and disciplines that helps the program to realize its objective: the transmission of knowledge to new generations of artists on a global scale.
It’s a life-changing program. For the participants, the experience deepens knowledge of their artistic discipline, liberates their thinking, boosts their confidence, international profile, and connections with others in the arts. To see this program in action, look no further than the mentor-protégé relationship between Spike Lee and Kyle Bell. Lee, the legendary filmmaker behind movies including Do The Right Thing and Malcolm X, mentored Bell, a young filmmaker from the Thlopthlocco Creek Tribal Town in Oklahoma.
“It has been the most positive thing in the world for me as a director, filmmaker and storyteller to know I have the support and belief of Rolex and Spike,” Bell says.
The Argentinian filmmaker Celina Murga relished her relationship with the illustrious Scorsese. Murga worked side-by-side with Scorsese on his 2010 film Shutter Island, observing the iconic director’s work ethic and vision inside the director’s tent. “It was amazing to see how Martin Scorsese’s mind works,” Murga says. “As he talked, he was ‘editing’ scene after scene. He suggested moving around some sequences and scenes. In the new combination of scenes and images, the film became much more powerful and moving. He was really enthusiastic about the new version and surprised at how much progress I’d made.”
And after the Indian filmmaker Chaitanya Tamhane was mentored by Academy Award-winning director Alfonso Cuarón he left hungry, determined, and with a newfound belief in his own filmmaking. “Cuarón’s support has been nothing short of stellar and overwhelming,” Tamhane says. “I can only thank the Rolex mentoring program for this career-altering and enriching phase of my life. Cuarón inspired me to be a warrior, to be brave, and to fight for my vision.”
These relationships are at the heart of the Rolex mentoring program—not just sharing tools of the craft, but instilling in the next generation a work ethic, confidence, and vision for the future of their art form.
To create the great art of the future, it’s vital to lean on the learnings of and have support from those who came before. Rolex believes that it is essential for excellence to be passed on. This ideal is as visible in the craftsmanship of its watches as it is in its support of filmmakers. The mentorship program allows emerging artists time to learn, to create, and to grow—and exemplifies Rolex’s long-standing dedication to encouraging individual excellence and achievement. It gives artists something valuable: a chance to mature and thrive under the watchful eye of a willing mentor.
