Arts Council Announces 2021 Survey on Cultural and Artistic Activities
Significant Increase in Number of Cultural and Artistic Activities Compared to Previous Year
The number of cultural and artistic activities such as exhibitions and performances in 2021 significantly increased compared to 2020, the year when COVID-19 first occurred.
Works up for auction are on preview display at the Seoul Auction Gangnam Center gallery. Photo by Heo Younghan younghan@
The Korea Arts Council (hereinafter referred to as the Arts Council) announced the main results of the "2021 Cultural and Artistic Activities Survey" containing this information on the 27th.
According to the survey, cultural and artistic activities in 2021 greatly increased compared to 2020, which was severely impacted by COVID-19, but were still at 80.6% of the level before the pandemic.
The total number of cultural and artistic activities in 2021 was 46,680, a 57.0% increase from 29,735 in 2020. The literature field recorded 14,887 activities (↑620), visual arts 13,364 activities (↑6,985), and performing arts 18,560 activities (↑9,471).
In the literature field, domestic books accounted for 12,027 activities (↑803 compared to the previous year), while translated books were 2,860 activities (↓183 compared to the previous year), showing an increase in domestic book activities but a decrease in translated book activities.
The visual arts field recovered to 87.6% of the total number of exhibitions in 2019, before COVID-19, which was 15,256. Solo exhibitions were 7,594 (↑4,389 compared to the previous year), and group exhibitions were 5,770 (↑2,596 compared to the previous year), nearly doubling the total number of exhibitions compared to 2020. However, the average exhibition duration decreased to 25.3 days for solo exhibitions (↓3.3 days compared to the previous year) and 35.8 days for group exhibitions (↓30.1 days compared to the previous year).
In the performing arts field, the number of performances more than doubled compared to the previous year, but it still remained at 64.2% of the 2019 level before COVID-19, showing a slow recovery.
There were 1,437 new creative premieres held 8,675 times throughout 2021 (158 events, 1,097 times in 2020). Re-performances totaled 17,123 performances held 94,334 times (8,931 events, 61,042 times in 2020), showing a significant increase in both the number of performances and the number of times compared to the previous year.
The number of artistic activities per 100,000 people by region was 61.8 nationwide, an increase of 32.0 from 2020. By field, performing arts recorded 35.9 activities (↑6.1), and visual arts 25.9 activities (↑13.6).
An official from the Korea Arts Council stated, "The 2021 Cultural and Artistic Activities Survey will be a useful resource for comparing cultural and artistic activities during the period when recovery began before COVID-19."
The "2022 Arts Yearbook" is scheduled to be released and distributed through the integrated Arts Yearbook website in May.
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