Icetex has $8 trillion to allow artists and young talents to study abroad

On March 16, the official launch of Young Talents took place, a 100% reimbursable loan program with which the Colombian Institute for Educational Credit and Technical Studies Abroad (Icetex) seeks to support the dreams of Colombian artists. , with or without vocational training, who want to strengthen their talent with quality international education, for which 8,000 million pesos will be allocated.

With three modalities, this scholarship will cover the expenses that will financially support these young people in their studies. In the first modality of the scholarship, each beneficiary will be funded up to 20,000 USD for master’s studies – for which it is imperative to have a professional degree. In the following modalities, artists and people related to the world of culture can apply, whether or not they have a university degree.

In these cases, recipients who apply for face-to-face short-term courses can receive up to USD 13,000, while for virtual courses, up to USD 10,000 per participant will be allocated.

It is important to note that, regardless of the modality to which it applies, all programs must be linked to the disciplines of art and culture, which, due to its variety, opens up a range of possibilities. for those interested, who must be between 18 and 35 years old and be Colombian, in fields such as visual and plastic arts, applied arts (such as interaction design, jewelry and metalwork, arts manuals and craft disciplines), the performing arts, music, cinematography, literature and publishing, or the management and promotion of cultural heritage.

Carlos Andrés Parra, one of the beneficiaries of the program, said that thanks to one of these scholarships, he was able to continue his musical studies outside the country, in Boston (USA) where he studied the Master of Music in Performance in 2018. About his experience, he said: “When you wonder if there is support for artists, it is an example of a great opportunity for them to pursue their academic life outside from the country.”

One of the novelties of the call is that, for the first time, additional points will be awarded to young people belonging to municipalities that are part of the Territorially Oriented Development Programs (PDET).

This program has the particularity that it aims not only to provide artists, young talents and people linked to the cultural sector with professional training, but also aims to ensure that people who, for various reasons, do not have no official title can present and study abroad. For this reason, in order to clarify some doubts about the call, GlobeLiveMedia Colombia spoke with Mauricio Toro, president of Icetex:

Mauricio, what is the importance of opening this call both for those who have professional training and for those who do not?

The first thing is that we need to open up our coverage more, that is to say people who, although they do not have a professional university degree, are talented, have the capacity and have the right to receive a state aid and , as Minister of Education and the President of the Republic have asked us, is to reach territories where it is never possible to reach and in these territories, unfortunately, in many cases, there is no vocational training available, but there is tremendous talent.

In the houses of culture, throughout the national territory, there are great people, there are storytellers, there are dancers, there are writers, there are people who are dedicated to culture, to graffiti, who must have the opportunity to begin their studies. That is why we offer you this opportunity to study in one of the three modalities offered by this credit scholarship.

You have insisted that it is a credit scholarship, since it can be lifted, social work must be completed, in addition to other requirements, how is it?

It is a loan-forgivable, because the person, by returning and culminating, simply with a social project, where he shares his knowledge with the community, we can erase 100% of this debt, and it is important and we is aimed precisely at reaching the most remote territory and people who say, “hey, but I’m an experiential person” as you were saying now, “I did it with passion and I’m good, who says that because that I have the title I make myself different, no; I also have a talent and I would like to have it” but others say “no, I would not like to have it”, why leave them aside? And that’s why we opened it so that any Colombian, who has a passion and a love for it, can be trained and then share their knowledge.

These artists must have the support of an institution, entity, company or territorial entity, not only to certify their experience, but to be able to carry out these social projects to remit the debt, what are the criteria for guaranteeing this support?

The first thing they should have is someone to certify and support them that they have done social work. We are, for example, in a municipality of X and there is a dancer, or there is a storyteller, who has dedicated himself to contributing to the municipality, who is in the Casa de la Cultura, who goes to schools , who does voluntary work, of course There, at the Casa de la Cultura, a professor, a teacher, a civil servant can say “I certify that this person has given himself for the community” and thus obtains support.

For us, it is important to ensure that this person has a career in this sector so that he can thus benefit from this advantage.

These people without professional training can only apply for the scholarship to finance short courses. Are there criteria for approving these scholarships according to the type of institute or academy in which the interested parties register?

In the case of short courses, they are institutes that simply have recognition and there are conditions on the website so that they can know which institutes they can apply to, there are usually many in the world, that although they are not professionally trained, they have a technical trade and so they can participate.

They must always be admitted and it is important for us to say this: they must be admitted to each of these courses.

The call is already open and will end on July 15, and registrations can be made here.