Daegu City Launches 'Hope Project' Led by Local Artists... Supporting Indoor and Outdoor Performances

From July, Outdoor Performances of Fork Festival and Opera Festival Will Also Be Planned

Jazz performance scene in downtown Daegu.

[Asia Economy Yeongnam Reporting Headquarters, Reporter Park Dong-wook] Since the end of February, when the novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19) spread, Daegu City, which operates the 'Arts Support Center,' is intensifying the 'Daegu Arts Hope Project' to deliver hope and positive energy to its citizens.

While providing creative support funds of 1 to 3 million KRW to arts organizations and artists directly affected by COVID-19, from July, an outdoor stage will also be prepared to present diverse performances centered on local artists.

According to Daegu City on the 10th, the Daegu Arts Hope Project is divided and promoted into 'Expansion of Government Artist Welfare Projects,' 'Online Performance and Quarantine Content Production Projects,' and 'Encouragement of Creativity through Cultural and Artistic Events.'

The 'Government Artist Welfare Project' is carried out as a creative support program in the performing arts field to support artist dispatch, a collaboration model between artists and local companies, and creative activities in basic performing arts fields such as theater, dance, music, and original musicals. These projects will be concretized through a public contest by the Daegu Cultural Foundation starting in June.

Looking at the support details, through the artist dispatch support project, 50 people will receive 400 million KRW (1.2 to 1.4 million KRW per person per month for six months), 70 groups will receive 456 million KRW for creative support in the performing arts field, 50 groups will receive 256 million KRW for revitalizing performing arts creation, and 20 specialized performing arts theaters will receive 200 million KRW.

For the 'Online Performance and Quarantine Content Production Project,' it is a project promoting the seven basic life rules to overcome COVID-19 in various forms such as dance contests, trot musicals, and rap. As for online performances and exhibitions, the Folk Festival will be held as a no-audience online performance at Suseongmot Sanghwa Park on August 7-8. Also, until July, a relay online exhibition titled 'Hope Drawing' by 100 artists is ongoing at the Daegu Art Museum.

Offline performances and exhibitions include the Daegu Wind Festival at the Concert House on July 11, the 'UNESCO Creative City House Concert' relay performances at the same venue from July 1 to October 7, and the 'New Solidarity Exhibition' at the Daegu Art Museum until September 13.

Additionally, to continuously encourage artists' creative activities, for the second half of the year’s performances, the scope of inviting domestic and international artists will be significantly reduced, while opportunities for local artists to participate will be dramatically increased.

In July and August, under the slogan 'Proud to be a Daegu Citizen,' the Daegu Wind Festival, Folk Festival, and others will deliver messages of comfort and hope to citizens exhausted by COVID-19. From September to November, under the slogan 'Beyond Hardship, Toward Joy,' major performing arts festivals such as the Opera Festival, Musical Festival, and Daegu Music Festival will continue.

Park Hee-jun, Director of the Daegu City Culture, Sports and Tourism Bureau, emphasized, "Through the promotion of this Daegu Arts Hope Project, we hope to boost the creative motivation of local artists struggling due to COVID-19 and provide an opportunity for citizens weary from COVID-19 to heal. We will do our best to deliver messages of hope to local artists and citizens."

Meanwhile, since the end of February, Daegu City has supported 142 local artists with 426 million KRW (3 million KRW per person) in government creative preparation funds for the first half of the year through the Arts Support Center. In addition, special support funds of 851 million KRW (1 million KRW per organization) were provided to 851 professional arts organizations, including performing arts businesses severely affected by COVID-19.

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