KF뉴스레터-Bridging the World’s Cultures

Bridging the World’s Cultures

Since the dawn of the new millennium, promoting Korean culture has become a high-priority goal of the government. The Ministry of Culture and Tourism has steadily expanded its policy efforts, establishing the Korea Culture and Content Agency and the Korea Foundation for Asian Cultural Exchange in 2001 and 2004, respectively. Meanwhile, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade has adopted the policy of "Cultural Diplomacy" in order to get more actively involved in promoting culture-related cooperation between countries. At the Korea Foundation as well, intensified efforts are underway to further expand our cultural exchange programs.

In response to this heightened awareness of culture and its significance, the number of international cultural exchanges has increased in a variety of fields. At the same time, however, similarities and overlapping in programs among cultural organizations has become an issue. Although each organization has a distinctive mission, goal and implementation method, such that there is a general division of labor among organizations, for grant recipients and third parties it is still it difficult to differentiate between organizations since similar tools are used to realize their goals. This is a common problem faced in almost every country, and various efforts have been undertaken to address this problem. On this occasion, I would like to introduce the Korea Foundation's Cultural Exchange Programs and our future plans.

Current Programs
Although all Foundation programs are related to the promotion of Korea and its culture abroad, the Cultural Exchange Program consists mainly of an Overseas Museum Support Program and a Performing Arts and Exhibition Program.

The Overseas Museum Support Program supports the establishment of independent Korean galleries in various museums abroad, enabling permanent displays of Korean artifacts all over the world. The program also offers support to increase the pool of professionals who will be in charge of Korean artifacts, and to manage Korean culture-related programs in overseas museums. Since its establishment, the Foundation has supported the creation of Korean galleries at 14 museums in six countries, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York, U.S.A.), the British Museum (London, U.K.), and the Guimet Museum (Paris, France). In 2003, the Korean gallery at the Asian Art Museum in San Francisco was enlarged and reopened in a new building, and the Yu Kil-Chun Gallery of Korean Art and Culture was established at the Peabody Essex Museum in Salem, Massachusetts, U.S.A..

Since 1999, the annual Workshop for Korean Art Curators has provided curators from overseas museums comprehensive and in-depth knowledge of Korean artifacts. This popular workshop has gained a regular following over the years. In terms of marketing Korean culture, it is definitely a success. As the number of workshop participants continues to grow, more information exchanges regarding Korean arts and exhibitions are taking place on an international scale. The workshop not only gives curators knowledge about and on-site experience with Korean arts, it has also inspired workshop participants to organize a growing number of Korean art exhibitions and guest lectures at their home museums.

The Performance and Exhibition Program seeks to improve the world’s understanding of Korean culture through an introduction to Korean performing and visual arts. The Foundation either directly involves itself in the organization of each program or supports the program’s organizers through the provision of funds. In the past, because of the sheer amount of money required to establish a gallery, the budget for the Overseas Museum Support Program was relatively large compared to that for the Performance and Exhibition Program. In addition, the establishment of Korean art galleries overseas was a priority for the Foundation then. However, since 2002, the situation has reversed, which speaks to the expansion of the program’s focus from just traditional dance and music to a wide array of artistic , including modern dance, ballet, Western classical music, musicals, plays, and exhibitions.

The success of a cultural exchange program, like many other programs, hinges on the identification and continual fine-tuning of its mission and strategic ives, as well as systematic support for these strategies, both financially and institutionally. With this in mind, I would like to briefly introduce our present and future pursuits.

Regional Diversification and Focusing
The Foundation’s cultural exchange program has two goals: (1) to increase cultural exchange with regions that have little exposure to Korea, and (2) to introduce the uniqueness and greatness of Korean arts and culture to the world. By the end of 2004, various performance tours and exhibitions will have taken place in Latin America, Asia, Africa, Europe, and Oceania. Instead of focusing only on traditional or folk culture, most events will include material from a variety of fields, such as classical music and modern dance.

The Foundation has traditionally received applications from other organizations to support their cultural exchange activities. However, because this approach makes the direction of Cultural Exchange Program dependent on the ideas of others, we have rethought this policy and are now headed toward more proactive measures. In the future, we will set up program plans by region and then make requests for applications, from which we will select those that best fit the projects we have planned. In order to implement this proactive approach, the Foundation has made institutional arrangements in the direction of enhancing the transparency and fairness of the selection process.

Counting the years when it was known as the International Cultural Society of Korea, the Foundation has 30 years of experience in cultural exchange. It is time for the Foundation to make good use of this know-how and organize large-scale cultural projects. In addition, plans to intensively introduce Korean arts and culture need to be developed in a focused and selective manner. In 2005, we will focus on introducing Korean arts and culture in Germany and Japan. By 2009, we will be doing the same in Brazil, China, India, and Russia. These plans are to be carried out through close cooperation among government, public and private organizations within Korea.

The Foundation will achieve regional diversification for the Overseas Museum Support Program by establishing Korean galleries not only in the U.S., but in other countries as well. In addition, the Foundation envisions stronger support for programs that introduce or teach Korean culture, which will invigorate Korean galleries overseas.

The ultimate goal of our cultural exchange program is to make the Korea Foundation a representative cultural exchange organization, bridging different cultures of the world. This does not mean that the Foundation alone will be in charge of all Korean cultural exchanges or that all programs must be carried out by the Foundation alone. The Foundation will continue to engage in active cultural exchanges with cultural organizations in other countries: the British Council, the Japan Foundation, Goethe-Institut, the Indian Council for Cultural Relations, New Zealand’s Asia 2002 Foundation, and the Danish Center for Culture and Development, to name a few. We will also continue to actively share information with officials of these organizations. Likewise, we will put more effort into establishing cooperative relationships among relevant Korean organizations, both to prevent the overlapping of similar programs and to encourage the exchange of information. By nurturing a network of cultural exchange organizations, both domestically and internationally, bilateral cultural exchanges will become more efficient and productive.

Avoid Overlapping
As mentioned earlier, overlapping and similarities in cultural exchange programs among cultural institutions has become a major issue and a target of frequent criticism. Overlapping occurs when departments and organizations have different goals but use the same means (in this case performance and exhibition) to achieve these goals. For instance, the Korean Culture and Arts Foundation, the organization most frequently compared to the Korea Foundation, seeks to stimulate cultural and artistic creativity among Koreans. This is somewhat different from the Foundation’s goal to strengthen friendly ties between Korea and the international community through various exchange activities. In terms of goals, the two organizations are distinctively different, but the means by which the goals are achieved blurs the distinction.

The most ideal way to avoid overlapping in programs would be for the Korea Foundation to utilize highly artistic and creative works of art, produced with the support of the Korean Culture and Arts Foundation and the Ministry of Tourism and Culture, in international exchange programs. In practice, the overlap of different organizations’ programs is a very small problem. However, one suggestion for avoiding overlapping was to consolidate these organizations.

Clear individual goals and shared assessment of the outcomes of exchanges could give cultural and artistic exchange programs a greater reach and effectiveness, as well as improve their quality. Copying programs among cultural and artistic organizations, or coming up with similar programs at similar times, also gives rise to the problem of overlapping. If a new program were deemed a success by an organization, other organizations are likely to launch similar or identical programs. For instance, programs that introduce Korean culture to foreign residents in Korea are few in number and are carried out in a disorderly fashion, creating confusion. Therefore, it would be efficient and economic for the organizations in charge of such programs to share information in advance and put this shared information together in a calendar. The solution to overlapping programs lies in the recognition of the importance of coordinated efforts by those in charge of the promotion of arts and culture.

The network, whether it be among artists or relevant officials, will become increasingly important. The Foundation’s cultural exchange programs are preparing for a step forward by reviewing their systems and guidelines, and by improving their application and selection processes.

한국국제교류재단

Bridging the World’s Cultures

SEARCH

Bridging the World’s Cultures

SEARCH

전체메뉴