April 29th, 4:30 PM at Gammam Creative Culture Village, Busan Cultural Foundation Staff Hold 'Communication and Empathy Time'
Mayor Park Hyung-jun: "We Will Create 'Happy Cultural City Busan' Where New Culture Becomes a Brand"
On the 29th at 4:30 PM, Busan City held a ‘Communication and Empathy Time’ at Gammang Creative Culture Village with Mayor Park Hyung-jun and employees of the Busan Cultural Foundation (CEO Lee Mi-yeon).
‘Communication and Empathy Time’ has been promoted to facilitate free policy communication by exchanging various opinions between Mayor Park and city employees. This meeting is the fourth session following Busan Technopark.
This event was organized to freely communicate and discuss with employees key issues of the Busan Cultural Foundation such as creating a virtuous cycle art ecosystem, establishing a cultural and artistic foundation for building ‘Global Hub City Busan,’ and activating communication and collaboration with local cultural artists.
Before the meeting, Mayor Park visited the performing arts rehearsal space and resident artists’ creative spaces within Gammang Creative Culture Village to observe the creative environment and encourage the resident artists.
Opened in 2013, Gammang Creative Culture Village is a complex cultural community space remodeled from a closed school (former Dongcheon Elementary School) for regional cultural regeneration. It includes performing arts rehearsal spaces, resident artists’ creative spaces, a policy research center, and the Busan Cultural Foundation office.
The performing arts rehearsal space is operated through rental to local artists, and 12 teams of artists from various fields such as visual arts, dance, and theater reside in the resident artists’ creative spaces.
During the ‘Employee Communication and Empathy Time,’ about 50 employees of the Busan Cultural Foundation shared and discussed strategies on ① creating a virtuous Busan art ecosystem, ② cultural practice strategies for the 15-minute city Busan, ③ strengthening governance through public-private co-growth, ④ plans for academic conferences to build global cultural partnerships, and ⑤ securing effectiveness in the cultural and artistic fields of the ‘Global Hub City’ Busan.
At this event, Mayor Park emphasized the designation and promotion of cultural free zones to expand citizens’ cultural and artistic enjoyment through the creation of 15-minute living zone cultural spaces, foster the cultural industry, and further promote artistic activities of domestic and international artists to establish a cultural and artistic foundation befitting a global hub city.
He also urged broad communication and collaboration to maximize creativity and foster and support young artists for the virtuous cycle of the local cultural and artistic ecosystem.
Afterwards, a Q&A session with employees allowed for honest sharing and communication of work difficulties and suggestions, making it a meaningful time.
Mayor Park Hyung-jun stated, “The ultimate goal of ‘Global Hub City Busan’ is to create a refined cultural city where each citizen enhances their ability to interpret their own life and becomes a high-level cultural citizen. We will support artists by providing creative spaces and conditions for artistic activities to create diverse opportunities, and citizens will enjoy various cultures through good social relationships in 15-minute city cultural spaces. In particular, we will build ‘Happy Cultural City Busan,’ where new cultures that young people can enjoy become a brand.”
Celebrating its 15th anniversary this year, the Busan Cultural Foundation (established in 1999) has played a central role in the regional cultural and artistic ecosystem by supporting creation, distribution, and cultural and artistic activities.
Especially, last year’s ‘1st Busan International Performing Arts Market (BPAM)’ attracted over 18,000 visitors including performing arts industry professionals and artists from 33 countries, successfully establishing itself as the only ‘performance distribution-centered citizen festival model’ in Korea.
Through this event, 20 works including the Busan production play ‘Container’ received contracts or invitations from famous overseas performing arts markets, earning high praise in the cultural and artistic community.
© The Asia Business Daily(www.asiae.co.kr). All rights reserved.
