Taking place this year from May 04–July 17, 2026, the Venus Fest Mentorship Program is a Toronto-based program for musicians and music workers of underrepresented identities/genders.

Apply here by April 2, 2026 @ 11:59pm EST

We will provide ASL interpretation support for Deaf/Hard of Hearing participants for all program components, as well as other access support tailored to participant access needs.

Venus Fest’s Mentorship Program is geared towards musicians and music workers of underrepresented identities/genders. Within this, we especially encourage applications from artists/arts workers who are QT/BIPOC, otherwise equity-seeking, or have lacked previous institutional support for their current professional goals.

We have multiple placements reserved for transfemme, Black, Indigenous, and/or Deaf/Hard of Hearing participants.

Applications are open to anyone living in 'Canada', but participants are asked to attend as many of the in-person components as possible; we encourage applications from people who are either based in the GTA or who can reasonably travel to Toronto to attend the in-person components. If you need to attend virtually for accessibility reasons, please let us know and we can accommodate this for you.

If you prefer to submit your application as a video or audio file, or have other questions related to accessibility for this application process, please email our Mentorship Program Coordinator Beau: beau@venusfest.net

Mentors

Prado Monroe | Artist
CIEL | DJ / Producer
Bobby Sanchez | Artist
Haviah Mighty | Artist / Producer
Michelle Erfer | Booking Agent
Natasha "Courage" Bacchus | Deaf interdisciplinary artist / sign language art accessibility consultant 99Makaveli | Producer
Winta Hagos | Cultural Producer / Venue Owner

*We aim to match artists with artists and arts workers with arts workers, so please be mindful of this when selecting your preferred mentors.
(ie. we will pair an emerging event booker with our mentor who is a booking agent, and an emerging producer/beatmaker with the mentor who is a producer).

Program Dates 

May 04–July 17, 2026

In-Person Symposium Days

May 13 and 14, 2026, Toronto, ON

Debaser's Pique/Topique Events

June 12 and 13, 2026, Ottawa, ON

Social Program Events

Dates to be shared with participants

Online Mentorship Sessions

Scheduled individually with mentors during the program period