Ben Frost has been selected as the music protégé for the Rolex Mentor and Protégé Arts Initiative. This will mean working with iconic figure Brian Eno, pioneer of ambient music, one-time member of Roxy Music and producer of Talking Heads, Jon Hassell, U2 and Coldplay - to name but a few.
This is exciting news, especially it was recently announced that Unsound is commissioning Ben Frost and Daniel Bjanarson to create a work with Krakow’s Sinfonietta Cracovia. Called “Solaris”, this is inspired by the original Stanilsaw Lem novel, as well as Tarkovsky’s film adaptation. "Solaris" will be performed at Unsound Festival Krakow in October 2010, followed by a performnace at Unsound Festival New York in April 2011.
Ben and Brian will work for a year together.
The Arts Initiative has six disciplines: dance, film, literature, music, theatre and visual arts. Each protégés receives their own individually tailored programme, with time provided across the year for unique personal access to, and creative dialogue with, their assigned mentor. Furthermore, each protégé receives a grant of $25,000 USD each and is eligible for a further $25,000 towards the cost of creating a project following their mentoring year.
The other protégés and mentors for 2010-2011 are:

Literature: American poet Tracy K. Smith; mentored by Hans Magnus Enzensberger (Germany)

Visual arts: South African artist Nicholas Hlobo; mentored by Anish Kapoor (United Kingdom)
Theatre: Lebanese actor, writer and aspiring director Maya Zbib; mentored by Peter Sellars (United States)
Film: Annemarie Jacir, a Palestinian film director and poet living in Jordan; mentored by Zhang Yimou (China)