Facilitator

Kim Sunghwan, General Manager of Policy Office, GyeongGi Cultural Foundation

Participants

Kim Kwi-bae, Assistant Secretary-General of Bureau of Science & Culture, Korean National Commission for UNESCO

Chung Jeongsook, Representative Director of Jeonju Cultural Foundation

Shim Jieon, Chief Manager of Visual Arts Planning Team at Korea Arts Management Service

Park Hui Joo, General Director of Art&Culture Headquarters, GyeongGi Cultural Foundation

Cho Kwang Yeon, GyeongGi Creation Center, GyeongGi Cultural Foundation

Kim Sunghwan I would like to ask Shim Jieon share a general review of the presentations. Next, I want to ask Kim Kwi-bae from the Korean National Commission for UNESCO about cultural heritage. Lastly, I request Cho Kwang Yeon to suggest the future direction of international exchange by considering the Foundation’s past cases of international exchange.

Shim Jieon Looking at the Foundation and its partner institutions, they say that their budget is not sufficient. Nevertheless, they seem to make use of outside budget including financial support in order to cooperate with Korean and international institutions in a seamless manner. What is regrettable is the fact that most of their exchange activities are confined to just introducing their content. It would be desirable to focus more on GyeongGi-do Province’s content or the institutions’ identity. Meanwhile, the most necessary elements of international exchange are budget and professional human resources. My institution is often visited by mediators but unfortunately, those from public institutions cannot be supported at 100 percent. For example, those going abroad are often regarded as having a private vacation period rather than as going on a business trip. I want some internal coordination in this matter.

Kim Sunghwan What is the most important in international exchange would be two-way negotiations. Regarding this, I would like to ask Cho Kwang Yeon to make some comments.

Cho Kwang Yeon When I first joined GyeongGi Cultural Foundation, I was in charge of international cultural exchange. At that time, the exchange activities were focused more on original equipment manufacturing (OEM) rather than on exchange and cooperation with institutions. We carried out passive exchange activities without any research on the effects of our exchange programs or feedback on them. Consequently, the programs became too simple and they didn’t have sustainable and long-term effects.

De veloped countries start exchange activities with a long-term vision in order to have expected effects. Recent arts and culture exchange and trends are going toward making use of the arts and culture to invigorate countries’ creative industries. Thus, GyeongGi Cultural Foundation’s international exchange should be in the form of original planned manufacturing (OPM) which consists in adopting the recent methodology of making creative products. In other words, the Foundation should plan and implement its own programs, encourage other institutions to participate, to carry out mutually beneficial programs and refine the programs through feedback. In this case, the institutions can implement programs more actively, thus having greater effects than in international cultural exchange in the form of OEM. Such exchange activities require exchange of human resources. In fact, when a foreign curator visited Korea, Korean artists began to be called. These artists are still called today, ten years later. In addition, countries’ differences in administrative systems often keep exchange projects from being carried out in a seamless way. In this case, exchange of administrators can lead to a better understanding of the partner country’s administrative system and to the selection of potential keymen.

Park Hui Joo GyeongGi-do Province’s international exchange doesn’t include culture. Without any visible achievements, it is difficult to allocate a budget. The same is true for GyeongGi Cultural Foundation. So it is necessary to reflect not only on the Foundation’s activities but also on Korea’s cultural policy.

Cho Kwang Yeon China invigorated its design industry on the basis of its agreement with the UK. As a result, China was able to improve the quality of its design for the past ten years. In the same vein, it would be great for GyeongGi-do Province to discover ways to develop itself by means of the arts and culture.

President Sul Won Gi A good program is likely to secure the sustainability of exchange activities. When I was at Korea National University of Arts, the university ran an exchange program during summer vacation in collaboration with Maryland Institute College of Art. Those from Korea ran the program in the US and those from the US ran it in Korea. The program was planned well so it has been run for about ten years.

Kim Sunghwan Changing our topic, I would like to ask you about cultural heritage, focusing on GyeongGi-do Province.

Kim Kwi-bae The Korean National Commission for UNESCO (KNCU) is in charge of not only cultural heritage but also the arts and culture activities and relevant policies. After Gangneung City inscribed the Gangneung Danoje Festival on the list of UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity, it established a network of cities having intangible cultural heritage and hosted an international event. KNCU also gave some support to this event. Afterward, the member cities of the network took turns to host the event. As a result, local experts had opportunities to hear about foreign cases and to apply them, thus generating positive results.

UNESC O has the Creative Cities Network. A city’s assets and potential are classified into seven categories. The city then focuses on one of the categories to be designated as a Creative City. Once designated as a Creative City, the city is eligible for sustainable international exchange through a network of member cities. In the case of Icheon, European cities suggested exchange activities. As a result, the city came to export its handicrafts and formed a basis for international exchange with developing countries. So it would be meaningful for GyeongGi Cultural Foundation to study the assets of cities in GyeongGi-do Province, to see if they have potential to become members of the network and to guide them through the process of joining it. Second, I want the Foundation to pay attention to official development assistance (ODA). After the Korean War, UNESCO provided Korea with necessary materials such as textbooks. The international organization is now requesting Korea to support other countries. What UNESCO wants from Korea is mostly projects sharing how to inscribe sites on the World Heritage List and how to utilize them, rather than support with hardware. Such projects don’t take a great cost and once a country adds a site to the List, the inscription of the site could raise the global status of GyeongGi-do Province and Korea. Korea is targeting the poorest countries rather than developing ones. Recently, the country has carried out a project in Laos; the project consists in improving the country’s pottery village, supplying electric kilns and supporting the design of pottery.

Lastly, it is difficult to secure professional human resources whenever we engage in international exchange projects with local governments. Many of them don’t regard international exchange as a priority so those in charge of exchange projects often want to quit. In this context, local governments need to understand that persons in charge need to carry out exchange projects at least for several years. They then need to come up with training and education programs for these human resources. If they run projects with certain budget to have concrete results, it will be easier for them to secure human resources and capacity.

Kim Sunghwan Now, I would like to ask Cho Doo Won about our future tasks regarding UNESCO World Heritage.

Cho Doo Won One of GyeongGi Cultural Foundation’s projects is the Globalization of GyeongGi-do Province’s Cultural Heritage. In this project, we find GyeongGi’s cultural heritage that has potential to be added to UNESCO’s World Heritage List, list of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity and Memory of the World Programme. We then conduct a feasibility study of such heritage. We hope that such efforts to discover cultural heritage go beyond securing basic data on GyeongGi-do Province to reach the entire country. What is also necessary is not just to secure research data but to have internal discussion on the next steps. We expect that the project will take three to five years and we need to take different steps including the feasibility study, establishment of Tentative Lists, launch of a network with those in charge of the heritage sites and formation of a consultative body of conservation and management. We will also need budget. So we would like to request continuous advice from the Korean National Commission for UNESCO which has abundant experience in this matter.

Kim Sunghwan We will now turn to museums. A study led by overseas cultural foundations resulted in finding about 150,000 pieces of overseas Korean cultural heritage. If they have access to such cultural heritage, I believe that the museums could review the types of overseas Korean cultural heritage related to GyeongGi-do Province, establish a database and see if they could come to Korea. If this becomes a reality, it will be very meaningful.

President Chung Jeongsook Korea’s Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism is currently discussing the right word that could replace the term “two-way” used in “two-way exchange” How could we engage in “interactive exchange”? In the case of individuals, preparation of a program book will enable interactive exchange. The international cultural exchange between Turkey and Jeonju is actually run in this way. Second, such exchange could also be realizable through an MOU between institutions. In that case, if we do something in the other party’s country or institution, the other party also wants to come to Korea to do something. You said that GyeongGi-do Province doesn’t have many cultural programs. This is a challenge to be met by GyeongGi Cultural Foundation so it can be its priority. There are many things to do so such a priority will empower the Foundation. However, what is regrettable is the fact that there isn’t enough enthusiasm because of our discussion focused too much on theory. We need to clarify the reasons of cultural exchange. We need to take some time to reflect on why we engage in international exchange and on how GyeongGi-do Province will change afterward. We should also try to find answers to these questions. We just need to outline the issues that we currently know and to make up for what is lacking.

President Sul Won Gi I personally believe that Korea could take the lead in certain fields of international exchange. For example, GyeongGi Sangsang Campus has run programs for young people creating professions and jobs and the directors of European cultural centers want exchange activities with the campus. If Korea makes continuous efforts, it will be able to invigorate its local cultures and it can be global leaders in several fields. Like Gangneung, we could network with relevant foundations and institutions and take turns to host an event. Meanwhile, we need to learn from developed countries’ cases regarding the environment, everyday culture and health. The Foundation belongs to a province so it is not easy to secure budget but it could be supported by the central government. GyeongGi-do Province has a population of 13 million which is larger than that of Seoul. The Province’s area is also very large. Consequently, its income gap is quite wide. Nevertheless, we hope that the Province is equipped with an international cultural basis that is as strong as that of Seoul. The Province does have a capacity to make this possible but it hasn’t done this yet so this could also be one of the purposes of international exchange.

Shim Jieon I believe that local foundations should play different roles. Similar exchange projects are carried out repeatedly. GyeongGi Cultural Foundation should do something for GyeongGi-do Province. Just as Mr. Sul mentioned, international exchange isn’t something we can do in a short period of time. So we need to secure a certain procedure in order to carry out international exchange on the basis of a long-term plan.

Kim Sunghwan Today, we discussed the future direction of GyeongGi Cultural Foundation’s international exchange. Your comments will contribute to refining the direction and policy of international cooperation. That’s it for today’s forum. Thank you.

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