It offers fully funded, professional training focused on webtoons, web novels, and animation.
Participants develop real-world creative skills under close mentorship from working writers and PDs (producer/directors).
A new AI animation track broadens opportunities to expand intellectual property (IP) into video formats.
Sangsangbiz Academy: Questioning Talent and Opportunity
Overview
The academy is run by the City of Seoul.
Since opening in May 2023, Sangsangbiz Academy has begun to function as a talent pipeline for the creative industries.
Eligibility is broad: applicants aged 19 to 39 regardless of college major.
Programs run from introductory to debut-ready and advanced levels across three fields: webtoons (Korean digital comics), web novels (serialized online novels), and animation.
Course lengths vary by track, typically between eight and fourteen weeks.
To date, the academy has offered 21 different courses and produced 393 graduates, and the number of cohorts is expanding.
Applications are submitted through the Sangsangbiz platform and selection is by document review and interview.
Graduates gain access to the Sangsangbiz+ membership, company matching services, and shared creative workspaces.
Why Sangsangbiz Academy?
It represents a strategic public choice to develop creative talent.
Seoul is redefining a public role in strengthening K-content (Korean popular content) and industry competitiveness.
Meanwhile, private training costs and market entry barriers are rising, so public, fully funded programs lower those barriers for hopeful creators.
However, public-led training also raises questions about limits and how it will fit alongside private market forces.
Notably, current writers and PDs teach many classes directly, linking theory to practice.
That setup gives participants realistic experience needed to prepare for debut or career transitions.
Plus, the academy’s post-program membership and company-matching services aim to design sustainable career pathways beyond short courses.
In this way, Sangsangbiz aspires to be more than a quick workshop: it aims to serve as a medium-term platform that supports debuts and job changes.
Curriculum and Industry Linkages
The program emphasizes practical, production-centered curricula.
The web novel track centers on trend analysis and portfolio development.
The webtoon track combines storyboarding, direction, and drawing—or a PD-focused route for those leaning toward production.
The animation program includes a brand-new AI animation track for 2026, where participants practice planning and storyboarding using AI tools.
Through this track, creators learn how to extend text-based IP into video forms.
Such hands-on training strengthens a creator’s portfolio and gives immediately usable skills for company matching.
Moreover, expanding OJT and field projects builds a base for graduates to enter employment or freelance work right after finishing the course.
Post-program membership fosters peer networks, special lectures, and access to shared studios to sustain creative growth.
Introducing the AI Animation Track
This is an experimental step.
Bringing AI into creative workflows reflects broader industry changes.
AI can speed iterative planning and quicken storyboarding, making it easier for emerging creators to test visual ideas.
However, AI also raises questions about copyright, the boundary of human creativity, and ethical use.
Therefore, a realistic training program should teach not only technical skills but also legal and ethical issues and how to manage IP when AI tools are part of production.
Supporters: Expanding Opportunity
Support should grow.
First, free tuition opens doors for people from diverse backgrounds who might otherwise be shut out by high private tuition or the need for costly self-study.
This can be a turning point for individuals who felt they had to give up creative careers for economic reasons.
Second, instruction from active writers and PDs brings practical knowledge and industry networks, not just theory.
Third, adding new technology tracks like AI animation broadens creators’ skill sets, potentially raising productivity and opening new paths to monetize and expand IP globally.
Fourth, public support can strengthen routes to entrepreneurship and employment when paired with company matching and membership services.
In these respects, Sangsangbiz helps lower entry barriers while promoting talent variety and industry ripple effects.
Critics: Limits and Risks
Concerns are real and cannot be ignored.
First, a fully public funding model may be popular in the short term but hard to sustain long term.
Funding levels and political priorities change, and a program that depends on municipal budgets could face cuts or cancellation.
That instability would create uncertainty for both trainees and industry partners.
Second, expanding public education could distort the private training market and provoke competition concerns.
Third, AI tool adoption can intensify copyright disputes. Questions remain about who owns images or video generated by AI, and whether datasets used to train models were cleared for use.
If these issues are not covered fully in training, creators may face unexpected legal liability.
Fourth, a heavy focus on practical skills risks sidelining artistic depth and critical thinking. While job-ready skills matter, there is a danger that long-term creative development—such as building a unique voice or an artistic philosophy—could be neglected.
Fifth, selection processes that claim to evaluate creative potential and motivation can still be subjective.
Bias in judgment could favor certain styles or backgrounds, undermining the goal of increasing diversity.
Ultimately, public support is valuable, but it must be designed with transparency, sustainability, and legal and ethical safeguards.
Alternatives and Recommendations
Design balance into the system.
First, public funding should be phased and tied to clear performance metrics.
Measure outcomes both quantitatively and qualitatively, then adjust budgets based on demonstrated impact.
Second, strengthen partnerships with private companies to cement hiring and startup pathways. Regularized internships and project-based hiring would make training a direct route into industry.
Third, AI training must include mandatory modules on copyright and ethics to reduce legal risk.
Fourth, increase fairness in selection with blind elements and multi-layered review panels to cut bias.
Fifth, preserve artistic depth by pairing practice with coursework in theory, criticism, and creative philosophy. This protects long-term artistic development while still producing job-ready skills.
These steps are not just tweaks; they help build a lasting foundation for the creative ecosystem.
Conclusion and Outlook
Opportunities and challenges coexist.
Sangsangbiz Academy lowers financial barriers and builds practical skills that help creators enter the industry.
Yet sustainability of public funding and careful legal and ethical handling of AI are necessary companions to technical training.
Public-private cooperation, measurable governance, and curriculum designs that respect the core of creative practice remain urgent tasks.
In short, Sangsangbiz is an important testing ground for talent development in Korea’s content sector; its success will depend on institutional rigor and buy-in from the field.
In summary, the strengths are free, hands-on training combined with ongoing support; the main weakness is that without sustainable funding and clear legal and ethical safeguards, the program’s benefits could be limited.
What do you expect from public programs that train creators?
