New K-Arts Academy to feature traditional arts as hallyu

Lectures start to provide better understanding of Korean classics to content creators


K-Arts Academy, supported by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, opened Monday as a part of the government’s effort to educate content creators on Korean traditional arts.

The opening ceremony for the academy was held at Culture Station Seoul 284 with Culture Minister Choe Kwang-shik, directors from state-run art institutes and 150 producers and writers for films, TV programs, musicals and digital contents attending.

At the ceremony, cultural institutes including the National Museum of Korea, National Gugak Center, National Folk Museum, Korea Arts Management Service and Korea Craft & Design Foundation signed memorandums of understanding with the academy to deliver further information on Korean traditional arts for students attending lectures.

Lectures on Korean arts and their history are provided in two categories ― one for beginners and another for specialists. From traditional craft, food, paintings, architecture to music and theater works, lectures are delivered by the country’s top artists, masters of traditional arts and professors including Lee Dong-bok, director of National Gugak Center, Han Bok-rye, head of Institute of Korean Royal Cuisine and Shin Byeong-joo, history professor from Konkuk University.

For specialized courses, students will take intensive lessons on four art genres including archaeology and Korean art history, gugak or Korean traditional music, folk culture and craft.

For gugak class, students will take a two-day trip to Jindo in South Jeolla Province to experience along with Chae Jeong-rae, master of Jindo Ssitgim-gut, a Korean shaman exercise, and historian on Jindo Park Joo-eon officials said.

Although the K-Arts Academy runs for only one month this time, the ministry will also consider opening other classes to foreigners in Korea and Korean government officials in overseas operations.

K-Arts Academy is part of the government plan to sustain the Korean Wave by creating new sources of cultural products based on the country’s traditional arts.

Last week, the ministry announced a set of comprehensive plans for hallyu, such as building infrastructure for better content development, facilitating a support system for less popular Korean cultural genres, and promoting cultural exchanges to prevent anti-Korean sentiment.

The government will launch an agency to support writers as they develop program content or creative stories based on Korean legends, and hold contests for budding writers. It also plans to build an arena-type concert hall with more than 15,000 seats in Seoul or in neighboring cities, a large-scale film production studio in Busan and a drama town in Daejeon.

The ministry will also host the first Asian Music Market in October at multiple venues in Seoul to introduce not only K-pop artists, but also the country’s talented, yet unknown indie bands.

By Cho Chung-un (christory@heraldcorp.com)