The Indian Institute of Creative Technologies (IICT) yesterday announced  opening scholarships for aspiring creators across programmes in animation, visual effects (VFX), gaming, comics and extended reality (XR), under the Netflix India Storytelling Initiative.

The scholarships are aimed at those looking to move from consuming stories to creating them, with selected students eligible for financial support covering 50 percent to 80 percent of the applicable programme fee, IICT said in a LinkedIn post on August 24.

The initiative is targeted at a wide range of creative professionals and aspiring talent, including artists, animators, designers, technologists, storytellers and world-builders.

IICT said the programme is intended to support the next generation of creators who could contribute to breakthroughs in VFX, gaming and storytelling.

“Somewhere in India, someone is going to create it,” IICT said in its post, pitching the scholarships as an opportunity for those aspiring to build new characters, worlds and stories.

The scholarships are part of the Netflix India Storytelling Initiative, announced earlier this month as Netflix deepens its focus on developing India’s creative talent.

Mahima Kaul, Head of Public Policy at Netflix India, while tagging the IICT post, via her LinkedIn account remarked, “Very, very proud to say the scholarship scheme in partnership with IICT is now live. Please tell your friends (and their kids).”

Netflix has committed 100 scholarships for Indian students for in-person programmes at IICT, including courses in Interactive Comics and Sequential Art, Virtual Art Department Content Creation, Art of Character Animation and E-Sports and Gaming Management, among other emerging creative disciplines.

The broader initiative was announced by Netflix Co-CEO Ted Sarandos during his meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi on August 5.

It is designed to build the next generation of Indian storytelling talent through partnerships with key Indian institutions, with a focus on skills across the Animation, VFX, Gaming and Comics (AVGC) ecosystem.

The scholarship programme is being supported through the Netflix Fund for Creative Equity and forms part of Netflix’s wider effort to strengthen India’s creative talent pipeline.