http://www.jusfc.gov/creative-artists-programs/

The Japan U.S. Friendship Commission offers leading contemporary and traditional artists from the United States the opportunity to spend three months in Japan through the U.S./Japan Creative Artists Program.  Cultural understanding is at the heart of this program.  Artists go as seekers, as cultural visionaries, and as living liaisons to the traditional and contemporary cultural life of Japan.  They also go as connectors who share knowledge and bring back knowledge. Their interaction with the Japanese public and the outlook they bring home provide exceptional opportunities to promote cultural understanding between the United States and Japan.

The Program accepts applications in all disciplines including, but not limited to, Architecture or Design; Choreography; Music Composition; Filmmaking/Media Art; Folk/Traditional Art; Playwright/Theater Art; Visual Art; Writing; Multidisciplinary; and Other Disciplines.

Eligibility

Candidates must be citizens or permanent residents of the United States. Candidates must be professional creative artists (contemporary or traditional) working as: architects, choreographers, composers, creative writers, designers, media artists, playwrights, librettists, visual artists and solo theater artists who work with original material (including puppeteers, storytellers, and performance artists). Artists who create original work in a multidisciplinary form are also eligible. There are additional eligibility requirements for librettists, playwrights, and creative writers (fiction, non-fiction, and poetry) outlined below.

• Librettists and playwrights must have had a full-length work professionally produced and/or published in the United States at least once in the last five years.
• Creative writer applicants must meet specific publishing requirements. Self-published work will not satisfy this eligibility requirement.  In the last 10 years writers must have published at least one of the following:
  • Twenty poems in five or more literary journals
  • Five different short stories or essays (of creative non-fiction) in
  • two or more literary journals, anthologies, or publications
  • A book of poems of more than 48 pages
  • A novel or a novella
  • A book of creative non-fiction

Grant Award

A grant award in the amount of $20,000 will be provided to each artist to cover housing, living, and professional expenses. Artists will be responsible for converting their dollar award into yen. Disbursement of the grant and financial responsibilities of the grantee will be outlined when awards are made. Up to $2,000 for round-trip transportation will be provided for the artist.

Click here for full guidelines, criteria and application form for the 2012 program.  Any changes to the program for 2013 will be posted to the guidelines in the fall of 2012.  The next deadline for the Creative Artist Program will be March 1, 2013 pending funding.

Please contact Margaret Mihori at mmihori@jusfc.gov with any questions