Seoul Craft Museum Signs Business Agreement with Cheongju City

For Sharing Craft Infrastructure

[Asia Economy Reporter Kiho Sung] The ‘Seoul Craft Museum,’ the only public craft museum in Korea, has joined forces with the ‘Cheongju Cultural Industry Promotion Foundation’ by signing a business agreement on the 23rd at the Cheongju Korea Craft Center to promote the development of craft culture.

Officially opened in November 2021, the Seoul Craft Museum has become a popular hotspot loved by people of all ages by offering a variety of craft programs, emerging as a new landmark of Korean crafts, continuously attracting visitors.

To meet the diverse demands and expectations for crafts, the Seoul Craft Museum is expanding exchanges with domestic and international craft institutions. As part of this effort, it signed a business agreement with the ‘Cheongju Cultural Industry Promotion Foundation’ to foster broad cooperation with Cheongju, a representative craft-specialized region in Korea.

As the two main pillars of Korean craft activities, the ‘Seoul Craft Museum’ and the ‘Cheongju Cultural Industry Promotion Foundation’ signed a business agreement to jointly promote and cooperate in ▲craft-related exhibitions, academic research, and education, ▲exchange and sales of museum shop products to revitalize the craft industry, joint marketing, and promotion to spread craft culture. Through this, they aim to foster mutual growth of craft culture between regions and secure momentum for the two craft cities to grow into forward bases of Korean craft culture toward the world.

The two institutions are preparing a jointly planned special exchange exhibition as their first collaborative project from May to July. This exhibition will bring the format of the Seoul Craft Museum’s craft research planning exhibition ‘Baekja, How Did They Put Body Heat into Clay?’ which successfully concluded at the end of January, to the Cheongju Korea Craft Center. Alongside this, the ‘Baekja Craft Box’ developed by the Seoul Craft Museum and the related educational program ‘Soksokdeuli Baekja’ will also be introduced to the citizens of Cheongju.

Kim Sujeong, director of the Seoul Craft Museum, said, “We feel reassured to join hands with the Cheongju Cultural Industry Promotion Foundation to jointly contemplate and solve the challenges related to craft culture.” She expressed her ambition, saying, “As the importance of craft as a new alternative culture grows, the two institutions will combine their wisdom to discover and spread craft content needed in this era.”

Byun Kwangseop, CEO of the Cheongju Cultural Industry Promotion Foundation, responded, “It is gratifying and meaningful that the two institutions representing crafts in the fields of art museums and museums have opened the door to full-fledged exchanges.” He added, “I hope the network between the two cities, Cheongju and Seoul, centered on craft culture, will become stronger and serve as a springboard for the leap and development of K-Craft.”