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[Smiles and Cries]

National Endowment for the Arts has this grant they give to 5 creative artists each year

this is a long shot (very long) but since it would not cost me much to apply, I would like to apply every year from now on, you never know so I would like to send the best possible application for my first try this year.

Grant Award

Each artist will receive:

* a monthly stipend of 400,000 yen for living expenses, 100,000 yen a month as a housing supplement, and up to 100,000 yen a month for professional support services. (While the yen value has been fluctuating against the dollar, applicants should be assured that these funds will cover the cost of living and working in Japan.)
* up to $6,000 for round-trip transportation for the artist, domestic partner and / or unmarried children (up to age 18), and a baggage/storage allowance
* a stipend for pre-departure Japanese language study in the United States.

Because of the limited number of awards, only one residency will be supported for artists who apply as a collaborative team.
Review Criteria and Selection Process

The US/Japan program is extremely competitive; only five artists are selected to go to Japan. Applicants should anticipate a highly rigorous review of their artistry and should have compelling reasons for wanting to work in Japan. Their work must exemplify the best in US arts. Generally this means that only those artists who have demonstrated expertise and established professional recognition (e.g. awards, featured shows, publications, etc.) in their field either regionally or nationally or who have shown truly exceptional promise at the local level are likely to be competitive. Proficiency in the Japanese language is not required.
Applications are judged by the following review criteria:

* The artistic excellence of the applicant's work and artistic merit of the proposed residency.
* The extent to which working in Japan is consistent with the applicant's artistic vision and would contribute to his or her artistry.
* The applicant's ability to meet cross-cultural challenges successfully.
* The availability of resources in Japan that are necessary to the artist's proposed residency.

Applications will be reviewed by a panel convened jointly by the National Endowment for the Arts and the Japan-US Friendship Commission. The panel will include previous recipients of US/Japan Creative Artists' awards, as well as other arts professionals with expertise in Japanese culture.

a) Why do you want to go to Japan?

b) What do you propose to do in Japan?

c) What resources do you need?


I'm having trouble answering B an C

What would visual artist propose to study in Japan?
There are so many things I would like to focus on but I have no idea what I could propose to study in Japan's Visual and modern Fine Arts scene or what resources this would require.
I'm almost ready to go as an Anime/Manga OTAKU nerd :lol

But seriously I would like to apply some japanese subjects and influence into my work.
I will answer these questions on my own but just looking for feedback here

examples of past winners and proposed study

Marco Breuer December 2005-May 2006

Marco is a visual artist who derives his inspiration from location, environment and daily experience. His purpose in coming to Japan is to immerse himself in the everyday life of this country and investigate the relationship between a culture and its graphic forms. During the residency, he will divide his time experiencing both the urban and the countryside; exploring the high-tech modern city along with the rural farming villages. Another focus of his residency will be to delve into the variety of book formats in Japan. The book, according to the artist, serves as an ideal vehicle for interdisciplinary dialogue. He envisions the book as a platform for beginning collaborative projects and long-term working relationships with Japanese artists and artisans.


Iona Brown February 7, 2005

Iona, a painter, video and dj (disc jockey) artist from Washington D.C., has been researching and painting the ganguro phenomena of Japanese youth who perm their hair into afros and artificially tan themselves into a deep mahogany color to imitate African Americans. During her residency, she will work to try to understand why so many Japanese youth emulate black culture, with the ganguro phenomena as a focal point. She plans to reside in Osaka, where she visited briefly a few years ago, to experience and study some of the traditional narrative theater traditions of Japan, such as kabuki and bunraku. One project she has in mind is creating a play about ganguro in the style of kabuki in which djs and their turntables are used instead of the shamisen and percussion debayashi stage music.

Laure Drogoul July 22, 2004--January, 2005

Laure is a sculptor/installation artist from New Jersey. Her residency in Japan will focus on two different areas: the design and manufacture of traditional lantern making and a study of popular images of Japan and their sources, particularly in the realm of traditional figurative iconography and the contemporary Japanese hero/heroin roles as seen in anime, manga and action figures. Her recent works consist of large scale wooden framed luminous sculptures. Like the lanterns, they are forms which are "typical of the popular culture yet deeply rooted in history and traditional iconography."

for any GAF creative artist who would also like to try this here are the info links
http://www.i-house.or.jp/ArtsPage/mainpage.htm
http://www.i-house.or.jp/ArtsPage/Creative_Artists_Exchange_Fellowship.html
http://www.jusfc.gov/commissn/commissn.html

 

[Smiles and Cries]

bump... nearly 7am in Japan, Saturday right? Raining and 76f in Tokyo

Need some Japan-GAFers feedback