KOCCA launches mentoring program for artists

The Korea Times

The Korea Times

Lifestyle

Mon, October 2, 2023 | 09:20

Trends

KOCCA launches mentoring program for artists

Posted : 2021-05-03 19:43

Updated : 2021-05-03 21:13

The Korea Creative Content Agency has opened the application process for its annual creative content training program. gettyimagesbank

By Lee Gyu-lee

The Korea Creative Content Agency (KOCCA), designed to promote and strengthen Korea's cultural content, is kicking off its annual program to nurture artists.

The state-run agency under the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, announced, Monday, that it has opened the application process for the program, which will run through 11 a.m., May 14 ― 440 applicants will be accepted.

"I'm proud to say that this year's program, which marks its 10th anniversary, is our main project that discovers talented creators who will lead Korea's content industry," said Park Kyung-ja, the director of the creative human resources development team.

For this year's program, 17 mentoring organizations and platforms have been selected to carry out programs to train applicants to produce seven types of creative content: games, music, concerts/events, videos, webtoons, animations and media art. The participants will undergo six months of training in the related content category.

The program will also invite established artists and experts as mentors, such as music director Jang So-young, who worked on the musical, "Phantom," Kang Dong-yoon, who worked on the TV series, "Descendants of the Sun," and K-pop producer Kim Do-hoon, who wrote music for Mamamoo and Davichi.

This year, the agency has increased the monthly stipend for participants to 1.5 million won ($1,338) to help them through the long training process. It will also make a requirement that at least 25 percent of all applicants from each training organization or platform will be from a specific region.

"We have expanded our funding this year so that future creators can solely focus on creating content and see quality results," the director said. "We will continue to do our best for the next 10 years to foster talented artists who will lead the future."

Initiated in 2012, the program has supported young creative content developers make their way in the industry. Over the years, 2,368 people have benefited from the mentoring program.

Last year, despite the difficulty in carrying out on-site mentoring programs due to COVID-19, the agency managed to see effective outcomes through conducting them online. Two of the participants ― Park Jung-in and Maeng Jae-joon ― took part in composing the main soundtrack for the JTBC series, "18 Again," while Kwon Ho-sun created his own webtoon on the major platform, KakaoPage, accumulating over 5.7 million views.

gyulee@koreatimes.co.kr