The Indian Institute of Creative Technologies (IICT) and Netflix have announced scholarships for 100 students to support next generation of Indian storytellers. Under this scholarship scheme , students will be provided up to 80% financial support across six professional programmes comprising two one-year diploma programmes and four six-month certificate programmes.

The six programmes covered under the scholarship initiative are the Diplomas in Interactive Comics and Sequential Arts and Visual Effects Mastery, Certificates in Virtual Art Department Content Creation, Media Tech Workflow, Art of Character Animation, and E-Sports and Gaming Management. The scholarships will be available to students and working professionals across India.

The announcement has come after Prime Minister Narendra Modi held a meeting with Co-CEO of Netflix Ted Sarandos in August this year. During the meeting, Mr Modi remarked that India has a rich tradition of storytelling and an extraordinary pool of creative talent, which can be leveraged to strengthen the nation’s position as a global hub for content creation.

The Netflix India Storytelling Initiative was launched then, with an aim to invest in India’s creative talent pipeline by helping equip the next generation of storytellers with industry-relevant skills across the Animation, Visual effects, Gaming and Comics (AVGC) ecosystem.

Secretary, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting and Chairman, IICT Board, Chanchal Kumar said that India’s creative economy is at an inflection point. The Chairman said that IICT was envisioned as a bridge between India’s enormous creative talent pool and the rapidly changing needs of the global AVGC-XR industry. He said, such collaborations will bring industry knowledge into the classroom and help develop India’s talent into the creative workforce of tomorrow.