컬쳐리더인스티튜트

Arts envoys to gain more than culture lessons

 

The Culture Leader Institute, which opened last year to incubate cultural leaders in Korea, is launching an Arts Ambassador Academy this month. The institute is an affiliate of Culture Bank, a consulting firm specialized in the culture area.

“The participants will experience what an important role arts and culture play in Korea’s development, and will transmit the knowledge to others. They can make a big change, starting from their surroundings,” said Cheon Ho-seon, director of the institute and also Dean of Korea Venture Craft College. 

The course includes online and offline lectures from high-profile cultural figures, brunch classes, and several visits to concerts and performances.

“We can only educate them, but the participants can profit more, like through networking. The networking process between participants and lecturers is how brilliant ideas for arts can be born in the future,” said Cheon.

Culture Leader Institute director Cheon Ho-seon (Culture Leader Institute)

Cheon, who was nominated as the institute’s director earlier this year, had been with the culture ministry during most of his 35 years as a public servant. He was one of the founding members of the Korean Cultural Service in New York, which held many successful events to promote Korean culture in the U.S.

With his deep interest in the art and culture domain, he was involved in many cultural businesses even after he retired as a government official.

One of them was Ssamzie-Gil, a cultural complex in Insa-dong, central Seoul, which his brother Chun Ho-gyun, the former CEO of Ssamzie, founded in June, 2006.

“When I organized the ‘5000 years of Korean art’ exhibition in New York, the New York Times reported that the identity of Korean culture was in crafts, including Baekja and Cheongja. I ran Ssamzie-Gil, hoping to lift Korean craft to the next level,” he said.

But now he is out of Ssamzie-Gil, as Ssamzie went bankrupt last year. The place is now run by the landlord.

“Yes, I am sorry how it ended. We used to do lots of things for Korean art, like the Ssamzie residency program we had near Hongik University. It was an overwhelming job for a small company like Ssamzie to do in the first place. At least now there are many residency programs that are run by the government,” he said.

In 2007, after he finished his job as the general director of the fourth World Ceramic Biennale, Cheon went and knocked on the doors of the art auction industry through Auction Byul.

Auction Byul aimed to sell high quality artworks but did not go so well and had to be closed within a year. The firm then changed its name to Byul Collection and decided to focus more on collecting artworks by young artists. Cheon stepped down from his position as president but is still participating as one of the stock holders. 

After his many years as a sort of “arts ambassador” in and out of Korea, Cheon felt the need to focus on people.

“Culture was always the second priority in government policies, after economics. But there will be a limit unless culture and economics both guide the country. In order to do that, I felt the need to change people’s mindset,” said Cheon.

“They say Asia will become the world’s center of politics, economics and culture by 2030. This can’t happen overnight. Step by step, we need to raise our cultural level to be at the world’s top. We are going to make it possible.”

The academy will take place at Seoul Arts Center in Seocho-dong, southern Seoul from May 29 to July 10. Registration for the course is open through May 21 at www.cultureleaderinstitute.org

By Park Min-young   (claire@heraldm.com)