CJ Foundation for Culture Launches '2020 Popular Culture Creators Contest' to Lead Future of Cultural Industry

'TuneUp' for Indie Musicians... Customized Support Needed for Musician Teams
'StageUp' Supporting New Musical Creators... Providing Project Development Funds
'StoryUp' Film Support Program... Assistance from Production to Short Film Festival Submission

[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Seon-ae] CJ Cultural Foundation announced on the 26th that it is recruiting applicants for ‘Tune-Up’, ‘Stage-Up’, and ‘Story-Up’ in 2020. Marking the 10th anniversary of the project this year, the support programs in each field have been partially reorganized or strengthened to provide more substantial and meaningful assistance to creators.

‘Tune-Up’ aims to build a healthier music ecosystem and contribute to the diversification of K-pop by supporting the music activities and market entry of indie musicians across various genres. Until last year, it discovered 50 teams and 139 musicians, including Melomance, Saesoyoon, ADOY, and Car, and supported the production of 46 albums.

This year, in addition to album production support, promotional content production support such as music videos, and global expansion support, ‘customized support’ tailored to each musician team’s needs will be provided. Common benefits include free use of the CJ Azit Gwangheungchang performance hall and recording studio, as well as opportunities to appear on YouTube Azit Live. Especially for global expansion, based on accumulated know-how, strategic tours rather than one-off performances will be supported to enable sustainable overseas activities.

‘Stage-Up’ provides new musical theater creators with project development funds and expert mentoring, supporting their market entry. In 2020, the project development funds will be doubled compared to last year, and the director and music director participating as mentors will work as a team through the reading performance to enhance the completeness of the work, strengthening the support program.

Until 2019, CJ Cultural Foundation supported the development of 58 works by 105 performing arts creators, among which a total of 17 original musicals, including Goddess is Watching, Pungwolju, and Arangga, were officially performed commercially to audiences. Recently performed Julie & Paul and Robin, scheduled for performance in the first half of this year, are also works originating from Stage-Up.

The film support project ‘Story-Up’ has been assisting film storytellers in writing feature film scripts since 2010, and since 2018, it has supported young directors in producing short films and submitting them to major domestic and international short film festivals. The policy is to focus on expanding the base of the film creation ecosystem so that the second and third Bong Joon-ho directors can continuously emerge.

Until last year, through support for a total of 137 film scriptwriters and directors, 36 films signed contracts with production companies, and 5 feature films and 7 documentaries were released in theaters. Additionally, the short film My Sara (directed by Kim Deok-geun), supported in 2019, was invited to or won awards at numerous domestic and international film festivals, including the Jury Special Prize at the 2019 Mise-en-sc?ne Short Film Festival.

Stage-Up accepts applications until March 31, and Tune-Up and Story-Up accept applications until April 3 on the CJ Cultural Foundation website. More detailed application guidelines and support benefits can also be found there.

A CJ Cultural Foundation official said, “It has been proven through various recent cases that K-culture resonates worldwide and that the cultural industry will be an important driving force leading Korea’s future. And at the center of this is people,” adding, “By supporting the new and bold challenges of young creators, we will do our best to become the dream keepers of young people and lay the foundation for cultural patriotism.”

Meanwhile, founded in 2006 based on the philosophy of ‘cultural patriotism’, CJ Cultural Foundation has been promoting the popularization of classical music through early sponsorship of the Hwaum Chamber Orchestra and, since 2010, has been discovering young creators in popular culture through public contests, supporting their work development and market entry. In addition, CJ Nanum Foundation runs the ‘Cultural Dream Keeper’ project, which provides various cultural experiences and creative education to children and adolescents to help them explore and discover their aptitudes and talents.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.