Seoul City Expands Cultural Experience Opportunities in the COVID Era... Four Cultural Facilities to Open This Year

524.1 Billion Won Invested to Alleviate Infrastructure Gaps and Focus on Arts Sector Recovery
Four Unique Facilities Including Dilkusha, Craft Museum, Arts Center, and Municipal Art Archive to Open Within the Year

[Asia Economy Reporter Lim Cheol-young] Four distinctive cultural facilities, which Seoul City has been focusing on for several years, will open one after another this year. These include the house of Albert Taylor, who introduced the March 1st Movement to the world, ‘Dilkusha’ (March), the nation’s first craft-specialized ‘Seoul Craft Museum’ (May), ‘Yesulcheong’ remodeled from the old Dongsung Art Center (June), and the ‘Seoul Metropolitan Art Archive’ that collects, preserves, and exhibits contemporary art history (December).

Furthermore, Seoul City plans to build nine additional art museums and museums by 2024, focusing on the southwestern and northeastern areas, which lack cultural infrastructure. Notably, the only public art museum in the southwestern area, ‘Seoseoul Museum of Art,’ will complete its architectural design this year and begin construction procedures aiming for a 2023 opening. Additionally, to expand public libraries in culturally underserved areas, this year Seoul will support the construction of 12 district-run libraries in seven autonomous districts, including ‘Hanok Library’ in Dobong-gu and ‘Myeonmok-dong Library’ in Jungnang-gu. Seoul plans to support the construction of more than eight libraries annually going forward.

On the 4th, Seoul City announced the ‘2021 Seoul Cultural Policy,’ which includes these plans and stated it will invest a budget of 524.1 billion KRW this year. The main projects are ▲building cultural infrastructure (106 billion KRW) ▲recovering the cultural and artistic sectors affected by COVID-19 and creating a sustainable environment for creation and enjoyment (214.1 billion KRW) ▲preserving and utilizing historical culture and improving citizens’ lives through design (204 billion KRW).

Seoul City will first invest 13 billion KRW this year to support the construction of 12 public libraries in autonomous districts and will continue to support the construction of more than eight public libraries annually to steadily increase the number of libraries. At the same time, it will support the operation of 547 public libraries, including small libraries and libraries for the disabled, by expanding their collections so that all citizens can enjoy high-quality library services.

The libraries supported for construction include 12 locations such as ‘Hanok Library in Dobong-gu,’ ‘Myeonmok-dong Library in Jungnang-gu,’ and ‘Eungam Information Library in Eunpyeong-gu.’ An operating budget of 12 billion KRW will be invested in 547 public libraries, including 350 small libraries and 10 libraries for the disabled.

Additionally, four distinctive cultural facilities across Seoul will open. Starting with ‘Dilkusha’ in March, ‘Seoul Craft Museum’ in May, ‘Yesulcheong’ in June, and ‘Seoul Metropolitan Art Archive’ in December are preparing to open. Over the past decade, Seoul has built five new museums and art museums to become a ‘museum and art city’ where culture is a city’s competitive edge, and plans to build nine more by 2024. In particular, it is promoting the construction of art museums and museums in areas lacking cultural infrastructure, such as the southwestern and northeastern regions.

Moreover, a total of 15 billion KRW will be invested in supporting artists’ creative activities, creating 2,872 jobs in the arts sector. A budget of 7.5 billion KRW for supporting festival and event-related industries will be expedited in March to ensure that about 210 festivals can be safely held depending on the COVID-19 situation. The ‘(tentative name) Namsan Immersive Video Production Creative Studio,’ which supports non-face-to-face performance video production for the performing arts sector struggling with in-person performances, will undergo construction this year and open in the first half of 2022. The DDP video studio ‘Seoul-On,’ capable of hosting various non-face-to-face events such as meetings, forums, and lectures, will also begin operation from April this year.

The ‘Culture to Comfort’ project, which soothes citizens through culture and arts, will continue. From February, various non-face-to-face cultural and artistic programs will be available, allowing all citizens to safely enjoy culture and arts and providing artists, whose opportunities to meet audiences have decreased, with stages for activity.

Meanwhile, projects to preserve and utilize historical culture to spread the value of Seoul’s 2,000-year history and systematically preserve cultural heritage will continue. Depending on the COVID-19 situation, historical and cultural facilities and traditional cultural programs will resume operation safely, and landmarks utilizing living historical heritage will be created to prepare for the post-COVID era.

Public design projects that improve citizens’ lives will also expand. Over the past decade, Seoul has solved various social problems through design, leading initiatives in ‘design for social problem solving,’ ‘universal design’ that creates safe and comfortable cities for all, and ‘public art’ that turns Seoul into an open-air museum, aiming to lead public design necessary for the post-COVID era.

Yoo Yeon-sik, Head of Seoul City’s Cultural Headquarters, said, “Seoul City plans to implement policies that allow all citizens to enjoy culture and arts near their living areas and enable artists to freely demonstrate their capabilities. We recognize the importance of the social role of culture and arts in comforting citizens’ hearts and will strive to promote policies for both citizens and artists.”

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