[Window] Will Performance Filming Become the 'New Normal'?

[Asia Economy Reporter Park Byung-hee] The Performing Arts Creation Studio of the Korea Arts Council (Arts Council) is a representative support system for creative performances in Korea. The maximum production support budget reaches 60 million KRW for traditional arts and dance, 150 million KRW for theater, and 200 million KRW for musicals. Thanks to this exceptional level of support, many performance groups apply, and there is significant interest in the selected works within the performing arts community.

This year, the impact of the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) caused considerable damage. Many performances could not be fully staged as planned. Fortunately, there was an opportunity to ease the disappointment through screenings.

At the 2019 Performing Arts Creation Studio press conference, the Arts Council announced a plan to promote performance video production through a business agreement with CGV. Thanks to this, the play The Woman Fixing the Chair, the dance Hit & Run, the traditional art Wanchang Pansori Project 2 Gangsanje Sugungga, and the original musical Anthemosa were able to meet audiences in theaters. The Woman Fixing the Chair was only able to perform 4 times out of the planned 10 due to COVID-19. Hit & Run reduced its 2 scheduled performances to 1 audience-free show.

It is hoped that this will serve as an opportunity to activate performance video production. As theaters closed due to COVID-19, many national and public performance groups and theaters streamed past performances online. The public response was enthusiastic. This became an opportunity to confirm the potential of the performance video production business.

The performance video production business is already a global trend. The Metropolitan Opera (Met) in New York started its video business in 2006 under the brand The Met: Opera in HD, and the National Theatre (NT) in the UK has been presenting NT Live since 2009. Performances from these two theaters are currently screened in over 2,000 theaters worldwide, generating substantial revenue. In Korea, Megabox has been introducing The Met: Opera in HD since 2009, and the National Theater has been presenting NT Live since 2016. Both programs have steadily increased their audiences every year. Megabox even introduced a membership system called Classic Society in 2016, offering various benefits to viewers of famous overseas performances. Currently, CGV and Lotte Cinema also screen famous overseas performances.

There are concerns that showing performances on video might reduce the number of theatergoers. However, there is also considerable expectation that showcasing the appeal of less familiar performances such as opera or ballet through video will attract more audiences. The emotional impact felt on-site is different, after all.

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