Suncheon Cultural Foundation, New Secretary-General Jeon Ae-sil Prepares for a New Leap Forward

Appointing Cultural Arts Management Experts to Enhance Local Residents' Cultural Welfare
Communication, Collaboration, Support, and Attention Needed to Take a Step Toward a Happy Cultural City

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Lee Hyung-kwon] The Suncheon Cultural Foundation finally took its first step in September 2019 after more than six years of establishment discussions.

Immediately after its establishment, the Cultural Foundation held several opinion-gathering sessions and policy forums with local artists, cultural organizations, and institutions to diagnose the current status of regional cultural conditions, and also conducted a survey on artists and community cultural clubs.

They established a mid- to long-term roadmap for cultural development and discussed the direction of regional cultural development with related institutions nationwide.

Last year, through Suncheon’s independent regional artist activity system, ‘Hanggun-e Jeulgineun Agora Suncheon,’ the Cultural Foundation supported a total of 371 teams and 1,299 professional and amateur artists with 252 online and offline performances.

In particular, as a newly established foundation, it successfully hosted the nationwide community culture festival last year just six months after its launch, overcoming fierce competition, achieving over 200,000 online viewers, and contributing to the spread of ontact performance culture despite the COVID-19 crisis.

Additionally, the foundation provided an ‘Artist Activity Certification’ proxy service for local artists who have difficulty using online information.

As of December last year, a total of 392 people registered, recording the highest artist registration rate in Jeollanam-do (18.8%), enabling many artists struggling financially due to COVID-19 to receive the ‘Emergency Welfare Support Fund for Artists.’

▶ New Start with Incoming Secretary-General Jeon Ae-sil

In December last year, the Suncheon Cultural Foundation hired Jeon Ae-sil as its first civilian Secretary-General through a public recruitment (third round).

Secretary-General Jeon Ae-sil is a cultural management expert and administrator with over 20 years of field experience, having worked at Gyeonggi Arts Center, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism’s Asia Culture City Development Promotion Team, Asia Culture Institute, and served as head of the ‘Culture Day’ project team at the Regional Culture Promotion Agency.

Secretary-General Jeon said, “In the era of decentralization, regional cultural rights are becoming increasingly important, and the Cultural Foundation is especially a pillar for the cultural and arts sector in the with-COVID era.” She added, “As the Latin root of ‘Culture’ means ‘to cultivate,’ I will do my best to activate culture and arts by utilizing Suncheon’s unique cultural assets with the mindset of farming and to improve the cultural welfare of local residents.”

▶ Next Steps and Challenges for Suncheon Cultural Foundation

The Suncheon Cultural Foundation is preparing for a second leap forward under the new Secretary-General system.

First, to establish its status as a professional institution and define its role, it will introduce a comprehensive management process aimed at performance management, customer satisfaction, social responsibility, and integrity.

By strengthening the capabilities of staff and the organization to secure expertise and expanding support for local artists and the foundation’s core projects through fundraising and management, it plans to enhance autonomy and independence.

Following last year, the 2nd Suncheon City Community Culture Festival will be held regularly.

It aims to heal COVID-19 blues (depression) and COVID-19 reds (anger) through culture and arts and expand citizen participation programs.

It will also attempt various cultural and artistic cooperation projects by establishing governance among public, private, and academic consultative bodies.

This year, it will also promote events entrusted by Suncheon City as part of the East Asian Cultural City events.

These include , which weaves together literature from Korea, China, and Japan; for cultural exchange among youths from the three countries; and , encompassing future arts from the three countries.

As an educational project aiming to become a ‘Happy Culture Hub Suncheon,’ it will open a happiness instructor certification course and initiate exchange and solidarity projects between local artists and South Asian artists near the Himalayas.

Secretary-General Jeon Ae-sil identified three challenges to support the foundation’s second leap and to move one step closer to becoming a happy cultural city.

The first is communication and collaboration with local artists, cultural organizations, and related institutions.

The second is financial support for the relatively poor budget compared to cultural foundations in other cities of similar population size, specifically increasing subsidies and expanding operational facilities.

Lastly, she emphasized the need for interest from citizens and the local community, including cultural and artistic stakeholders.

Now, the Suncheon Cultural Foundation has organized itself into a professional cultural and artistic management system, equipped with the experience gained over the past one year and four months.

Amid the difficult conditions faced by the cultural and arts sector due to COVID-19, it stands at the center to lead changes in Suncheon’s culture and arts.

We look forward to the Suncheon Cultural Foundation sparking a revival of regional culture and arts based on cultural dynamism.

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