In 2021, the Agency for Cultural Affairs of the Government of Japan and Ars Electronica start a very special training program in Linz, Austria. During a six-month residency, the participant will have the opportunity to experience the many facets of Ars Electronica.

How can we educate future cultural producers who can transcend existing frameworks, encourage people to discuss and create new frameworks with vision?

Taking advantage of the fact that Ars Electronica is a rare institute with its own creative ecosystem, the participant will move back and forth across the following four different divisions to learn about the impact of art on society, education, technology, science, industry, and citizenship.

Whether through the renowned media art competition Prix Ars Electronica, the Ars Electronica Center as Museum of the Future, the in-house research laboratory Ars Electronica Futurelab or the international Ars Electronica Festival–in each of these areas, art meets science, education and business, interlinking and complementing each other to create new impulse-giving synergies.

The residency is therefore much more than just a look behind the scenes of organization, research and production. Here, skills for the next generation of curators and cultural producers will be imparted. The main focus will be on trying out new concepts for interdisciplinary collaboration.

The 2021 participant Maaya Makino provides an online hybrid workshop for Japanese junior high school students with the support of the team in the Ars Electronica Center.