CAP Mentorship

The CAP Mentorship Application 2024-25 will open after CAP Seminar 2024.

The Mentorship

The Creative Arts Programme Mentorship Attachment is a prestigious programme for budding young writers seeking to further develop their craft in specific genres – prose, poetry or playwriting. It offers CAPpers a unique opportunity to build on the skills and ideas discussed during the Seminar, under the tutelage of established Singaporean writers.

Open to all CAP participants, the mentorship programme runs for approximately 9 months from August till April. Applications open in June; participants are encouraged to take this time to refine their pieces based on their Seminar experiences. Successful applicants are selected based on their portfolio of creative works and their participation in Seminar workshops.

The attachment, which includes both English and Mother Tongue options, provide a platform for participants to explore literary techniques in greater depth and obtain feedback on their writing. For 9 months, mentorship pupils work alongside their assigned mentors, benefitting from the expertise and hands-on experience of published writers. The creative pieces developed and refined over the course of the mentorship are then published in the annual CAP anthology, Eye on the World.

“My experience being mentored during the CAP Mentorship Attachment was insightful and rigorous. Meetings with my mentor, Ms Heng Siok Tian, helped me to identify common weaknesses in my poems and helped me to refine my craft…her advice and perceptive observations have been invaluable in my growth as a writer.”
– Jonathan Chan, Mentorship Programme participant (2013-2014) & CAP Councillor (2012)

“…I realized that the programme was as much about the bond you share with your mentor (mine was Dr Terence Heng), and that personal connection helps to strengthen your writing because your mentor helps to examine where your motivations lie when you write and how to sharpen them. On a technical note, Mentorship also taught me how to craft my writing, rather than letting “inspiration” do all the work. It’s helped me take myself more seriously as a writer as well.”
– Katrina Jacinto, Mentorship Programme participant (2012-2013) & CAP Head Councillor (2014)