Ben Frost is one of six young talents to have been hand-picked “for a year of collaboration and inspiration” in the international Rolex Mentor and Protégé Arts Initiative.

The 30-year-old composer, producer and musician has been chosen as the scheme’s “music protégé for 2010-2011”. He will be mentored by none other than Brian Eno, former Roxy Music member, ambient pioneer, multidisciplinary artist and producer for the likes of Talking Heads, Jon Hassell and U2.

Melbourne-hailing, Reykjavik-based Frost received much acclaim for his 2009 album By The Throat, released via his own Bedroom Community label. Over the years he has collaborated with the likes of Tim Hecker, Nico Muhly and Bjork; he is currently working on the score for multi-player online game World of Darkness and “a reworking of Tarkovsky’s Solaris“. More info on the latter here. [thanks, Enter]

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)