[Interview] Jeonbuk Culture and Tourism Foundation Gains New Owner, Brings 'Vitality'

New CEO Lee Gi-jeon Communicates with Employees Over Morning Tea Time

"Will Focus on Finding the Identity of the Tourism Foundation and Enhancing Residents' Cultural Enjoyment"

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Lee Geon-ju] The Jeonbuk Culture and Tourism Foundation is finally gaining momentum with a new leader. Until now, the foundation had been without a CEO following the expiration of former CEO Lee Byung-cheon's term, with the Director of the Jeonbuk Provincial Government’s Culture, Sports and Tourism Bureau acting as interim.

Then, from March 11 to 20, a public recruitment was held, and after a personnel hearing at the provincial council on the 3rd, CEO Lee Gi-jeon was appointed.

We met with CEO Lee, who previously served as director of Samnye Culture and Arts Village VM Art Museum and Jeonju Museum of Contemporary Art, to hear about his future plans.

Q. Could you please share your thoughts on your appointment as CEO?

At the national level, I served as chairman of the Mokwoohoe, an art organization that discovers and nurtures emerging artists, for eight years. I believe my contribution to fostering new talent in line with Mokwoohoe’s purpose was recognized as a merit. Founded in 1958, Mokwoohoe was an art club for Korean figurative painters, formed under the old tree in Deoksugung Palace by realist painters who shared the goal of strengthening the foundation of Korean art.

Also, as a native of Jeonbuk, I believe my contributions in expanding exhibition opportunities for young artists while serving as director of Samnye Culture and Arts Village and Jeonju Museum of Contemporary Art were acknowledged.

Q. What is your term of office and how do you communicate with employees?

The term is two years, with the possibility of reappointment. I took office on the 9th and have been coming to work about 4-5 days a week, which feels like 4-5 years. I use electronic approval systems and listen to employees’ voices every morning during tea time. Employees actively express their thoughts, and many ideas emerge from these discussions. Communication with employees is the foundation for defining the foundation’s direction and identity.

Q. What about finding the foundation’s identity and its future direction?

If the past five years were a period for laying the groundwork for the foundation’s role and function as a culture and tourism foundation, the future will be a time to provide opportunities for residents to experience and enjoy culture.

The foundation needs more time to grow and mature, and the past five years were also a rehearsal period for moving forward. Various contests and projects targeting residents mark the beginning of practical steps for cultural experience and enjoyment.

Especially for residents confined due to COVID-19, the foundation aims to provide diverse opportunities where culture and arts can be a source of strength.

In today’s untact culture, where non-face-to-face interactions have become routine, I believe initiatives should focus on “variety, small quantities, and complete sell-outs” in line with the spirit of the times.

Until now, we created things that were large in quantity and long in duration based on a single theme, but in this untact era, we need to focus on cultural enjoyment that reflects the spirit of the times.

Q. How can culture and arts move forward together with residents?

It is important to plan small groups and small performances with diverse ideas that match residents’ perspectives. Even in small group performances, the works should reflect residents’ lives, themes they want to express, and these should be emphasized as art.

Showing that art is not difficult or distant but part of life, enabling residents to find motivation themselves and feel fulfillment through art?this shift in direction is what the foundation should pursue.

Of course, residents’ lives are not easy, and participating in art while making a living is not simple, but depending on what activities and methods are used to motivate them, we can approach residents in various ways.

When good people meet, by age group, by sector, or in small circles, residents’ participation can become voluntary and approach art as something enjoyable.

Q. How can Jeonbuk’s culture be linked with tourism?

Jeonbuk has infinite resources. There are well-developed roads and abundant natural resources. They just need to be organized systematically and require only minor adjustments. Like Gyeongju uses Silla culture extensively, we can utilize Gaya culture. It can become Jeonbuk’s greatest cultural asset.

We can package Jeonbuk’s unique customs and relics into products. Efficient use of budgets means it won’t cost much. Nature itself can become art. It can be an open-air natural museum without walls or ceilings. The massive concrete civilization of Saemangeum can become Jeonbuk’s representative tourist site, and the beauty of the West Coast, such as Chaeseokgang in Gyeokpo and the coast of Gomso, can be commercialized. The natural beauty combined with art can become a tourism product.

People with artistic sensibility should create this. Artists can see what others cannot and find and transform it into art. The Gogunsan Archipelago in Jeonbuk is more beautiful than the Italian peninsula.

If art is created through an artist’s eyes, I believe it can attract more tourists than Naoshima in Japan. Jeonbuk’s West Coast can be said to be more splendid than the Capri Sorrento coast. With endless ideas and residents’ participation, tourism and art can be combined and commercialized.

Q. What is needed for Jeonbuk’s culture and arts to sustain in the post-COVID era?

Jeonbuk has many natural resources, and the highland area of Jinan can be developed into a tourism site by combining with food culture. For example, black goat meat is a good ingredient to create a food culture.

Before COVID-19, society was characterized by group and collective movement, but post-COVID, movement will mostly be individual or small family groups, so lodging and dining cultures will shift to individual and small group units.

It is necessary to create food culture tourism sites where emerging artists can enjoy meals like home-cooked food even when away from home. Using the empty house project to promote food culture tourism and adding artistic elements to places like Yongdam Lake in Jinan can create tourism complexes.

Post-COVID requires maintaining tradition while integrating digital systems like AR and VR.

Q. How to minimize blind spots in art?

At the provincial council personnel hearing, I said that when one elderly person passes away, a museum disappears. Managing people is managing art. Human resources can become art resources. The resources contained in one person’s life are art and become art resources. To minimize blind spots in art and artists, much effort must be made to connect people and art.

Q. About the currently running performance Hongdo...

‘Hongdo 1589’ effectively demonstrates new media effects. However, there are many shortcomings in the wire stunts going up and down and stage effects. For a musical, the stage should have moving effects, so this is regrettable.

Hongdo is as artistically excellent as Empress Myeongseong. However, Empress Myeongseong became a masterpiece still loved today partly because poster master Lee Man-ik designed its poster. In comparison, Hongdo 1589’s work is excellent, but its poster is designed in an animation style that does not reflect the work’s artistic value. In this respect, Empress Myeongseong and Hongdo differ.

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