Read This If You Want to Make Cartoons While Living in Tokyo for Free

The Japan Image Council (JAPIC) has announced that they are now accepting applications for their “Animation Artist in Residence Tokyo 2014” program.

The project, organized by the Agency for Cultural Affairs (Bunka-cho/Government of Japan) and run by the Japan Image Council since 2010, is a residency that “aims to provide three outstanding young animation artists from around the world with an opportunity to come to Tokyo and create new works while directly interacting with Japanese animation culture.”

The artists selected will spend 70 days in Tokyo, between January 7 and March 17th, 2014. The program will provide travel expenses, living allowance, and rental accommodations, as well as the opportunity to interact with the Japanese animation community. You can read the report from this year’s program to get a sense of what will happen.

As always, there’s a catch, and this residency has one, too: you’ve got to be good. The three artists who were in the last program are all excellent filmmakers—Caleb Wood (United States), Elli Vuorinen (Finland), and Emma de Swaef (Belgium). Applicants, who must be between the ages of 20-35, need to have had one of their projects screened at an international film festival/exhibition and must submit a plan for a new animated work that is at least three minutes in length.

The application deadline for this year’s program is September 9th, 2013. To apply, go to JAPIC’s application page.