Mentorship Community Standards and Participation Agreement

The Making Your First Comic Mentorship is intended to be a welcoming, inclusive and supportive environment where adult creators can learn, share ideas, receive constructive feedback and develop their work.

These standards apply to participation in the mentorship programme, private community forum, group Zoom sessions, individual feedback and any related communication.

Age requirement

You must be aged 18 or over to purchase or participate in the mentorship.

By joining the programme, you confirm that you are at least 18 years old.

Professional conduct

All participants agree to:

1. Behave professionally, respectfully and courteously towards Matt Garvey and every other participant.
2. Communicate in good faith and contribute to a positive learning environment.
3. Give feedback constructively and focus criticism on the work rather than the person who created it.
4. Respond to differences of opinion without personal attacks, hostility, intimidation or deliberately disruptive behaviour.
5. Respect reasonable boundaries regarding communication, feedback and response times.

Inclusive community

Bigotry, bullying, discrimination, harassment and hate speech will not be tolerated.

Participants must not engage in:

1. Bullying or intimidation.
2. Personal abuse or targeted harassment.
3. Discriminatory comments or behaviour.
4. Hate speech or threats.
5. Sexual harassment or unwanted sexual conduct.
6. Deliberately humiliating, degrading or offensive behaviour.
7. Targeting or mistreating someone because of their race, ethnicity, nationality, religion, belief, disability, age, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or any other personal characteristic.

The mentorship and forum are intended to provide a safe and supportive space for creators from different backgrounds, experiences and perspectives.

Respecting creative work

Every participant retains ownership of their own ideas, scripts, characters, artwork and other creative work.

Participants agree that they will not:

1. Copy another participant’s work.
2. Claim another participant’s ideas or work as their own.
3. Share, publish or distribute another participant’s unpublished work without permission.
4. Download or reproduce another participant’s scripts, artwork or project materials for any purpose other than providing agreed feedback.
5. use information shared within the mentorship to exploit another participant’s work or project.

Privacy and confidentiality

Participants must respect the privacy of everyone involved in the mentorship.

Unless clear permission has been given, participants must not share:

1. Private forum discussions.
2. Personal information belonging to another participant.
3. Screenshots of private conversations or forum posts.
4. Unpublished scripts, artwork or project details.
5. Information shared during group or individual Zoom sessions.
6. Session recordings or private mentorship materials.

General lessons learned through the programme may be discussed, but another participant’s identity, personal information and unpublished creative work must remain private.

Raising concerns

If a participant experiences or witnesses behaviour that may breach these standards, they should contact Matt Garvey privately.

Participants should avoid escalating personal disagreements publicly within the forum or during group sessions.

Concerns will be reviewed fairly, reasonably and in context. The privacy of everyone involved will be respected as far as reasonably possible.

Breaches of this agreement

Depending on the circumstances and seriousness of the behaviour, a breach may result in:

1. A private reminder of the community standards.
2. A formal warning.
3. Removal of inappropriate forum content.
4. Temporary suspension from the forum or mentorship activities.
5. Permanent removal from the mentorship programme and private community.

Serious behaviour involving threats, harassment, discrimination, abuse, deliberate breaches of confidentiality or a genuine risk of harm may result in immediate suspension or removal without a prior warning.

Repeated breaches may also result in removal after a warning has been given.

Final moderation decisions will be made by Matt Garvey following a reasonable review of the circumstances.

Removal and payments

If a monthly member is permanently removed from the programme, their membership will be cancelled so that no further renewal payments are taken.

Any decision concerning a refund will take account of the circumstances, the services already provided and the participant’s applicable consumer rights.

Removal from the programme does not give either party permission to use, share or distribute another person’s confidential information or creative work.

Electronic agreement

An electronic version of this agreement will be sent to each participant after they sign up.

Participants will be required to:

1. Confirm that they are aged 18 or over.
2. Confirm that they have read and accepted these standards.
3. Agree to behave professionally and respectfully.
4. Agree to protect the privacy and creative work of other participants.
5. Type their full name as an electronic confirmation of their agreement.

Participation in the mentorship, group sessions and private community is subject to completing this electronic agreement.

Agreement

By purchasing or participating in the Making Your First Comic Mentorship, you acknowledge that you have been given the opportunity to read these Community Standards.

Your formal acceptance will be recorded through the electronic agreement provided after you join.