New arts complex opens in Akihabara

Next month sees the full opening of a new art center in Tokyo’s “Electric Town” district of Akihabara. Previously a junior high school, the buildings that make up the new 3331 Arts Chiyoda complex have been renovated to accommodate “a range of different project and exhibition spaces,” not to mention offices, a café, lounge, rooftop garden allotments and more. In addition, a number of the former classrooms have been leased to all sorts of creative types, NPOs and other organizations, making for a fairly lively vibe. Although the gallery space has been open since March this year, the official opening of the whole site will be held on Saturday, June 26 and will consist of an exhibition, opening party and talks, with a series of further events to begin from the following day. See here for more details.

3331 Arts Chiyoda is also calling for applications for its inaugural artist-in-residence program, which is basically a user-pays deal that, at 500,000 to 600,000 yen for one month seems a little steep to us, but hey, if you’re dying to have an exhibition in Tokyo and have got the cash lying around, why not? Check out what’s on offer and download the application form here.

Artist-in-residence program in Kyoto calling for applicants

The Kyoto Art Center is now accepting applications for its 2011 artist-in-residence program. The program is open to both artists and researchers of any age, nationality or discipline and to groups as well as individuals, but you must have a specific reason for seeking to stay in Kyoto, as opposed to some other part of Japan.

A spot of up to three months can be requested for anytime between April 1, 2011 and March 31, 2012. The residency basically consists of accommodation, studio space and an allowance of 200,000 yen to cover production/research costs. Travel and living expenses are not covered. Applications are due by June 30, 2010. More details and the application form can be found here. (Click where it says "ダウンロード OPEN" for the form.)

Bill and Ted would be proud

The Japan Mint is offering a 500,000 yen prize for the "Most Excellent Work" submitted for its International Coin Design Competition. Other prizes include the "Excellent Work" prize (200,000 yen) and student prizes (50,000 yen), while the winning entries of the top two prizes will be exhibited at the (we guess totally prestigious and wildly exciting) Tokyo International Coin Convention in May 2011. Entries for the general and student categories must be in by August 31 and September 15, 2010, respectively.