Gwangju Mayor Lee Yong-seop Holds Meeting with Cultural and Arts Organizations... Listening to On-site Voices

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Park Seon-gang] Lee Yong-seop, Mayor of Gwangju Metropolitan City, held a series of meetings with key cultural and artistic organizations including the National Asia Culture Center, Gwangju Cultural Foundation, and Gwangju Minye Federation as the final step of the ‘COVID-19 Overcoming Culture and Arts Special Week’ to listen to voices from the field.

According to Gwangju City on the 26th, Mayor Lee met with Choi Won-il, Acting Director of the National Asia Culture Center, and said, “For the National Asia Culture Center to be successfully operated as a national institution in line with its original purpose, a formal director must be appointed, and follow-up measures such as employment succession at the Asia Culture Institute must be implemented promptly. In particular, we must actively discover killer content and landmark spaces that can represent Gwangju.”

In response, Acting Director Choi Won-il said, “To strengthen skinship with the region, we are considering a collaborative performance with the municipal art troupe in May. We will complete organizational restructuring by September and do our best to ensure the normal operation of the Asia Culture Center.”

Mayor Lee then visited the Honam Foundation for Regional Cultural Exchange and expressed gratitude to Lee Ki-hoon, Executive Director, for taking a leading role in forming a citizen consultative body to lead local civil society so that the ‘Asia Culture Special Act’ can be amended.

He also emphasized the need for active opinion submission regarding the revised comprehensive plan for the creation of the Asia Culture City by the end of the year.

Additionally, together with National Assembly member Lee Byung-hoon, he visited the Gwangju Cultural Foundation to encourage the staff and requested that the foundation act as a control tower for the overall regional culture through cultural cooperation functions between citizens and artists.

Assemblyman Lee Byung-hoon emphasized, “The Gwangju Cultural Foundation must communicate directly with artists on the ground, deeply sensing the grassroots public sentiment, and push forward policies. I hope that the policies promoted by Gwangju City, such as the Gwangju-type job model and AI-centered city, will converge with culture and arts to create new synergies.”

Mayor Lee also visited the Gwangju Minjok Artists Federation, holding a meeting with Park Jong-hwa, president, and heads of 15 organizations to listen to their difficulties.

The organizations explained the economic difficulties faced by cultural and artistic groups due to COVID-19 and requested ▲expansion of Minye Federation office space ▲securing public art spaces ▲expansion of private group participation in regular traditional Korean music performances ▲archiving photographs reflecting Gwangju’s history ▲interest in popular music ▲discovery of May 18 content ▲expansion of offline performance bulletin boards.

Park Jong-hwa, president of the Gwangju Minye Federation, said, “This is the first time the mayor of Gwangju has visited the Minye Federation office in person. Through this visit, I hope Gwangju City will pay attention to marginalized cultural artists and provide policy support.”

Finally, at the Culture and Arts Center, he encouraged eight municipal art groups including the symphony orchestra and dance troupe, toured art museums around Mudeungsan such as Woo Je-gil, Mudeung Modern, and De Young Art Museum, and heard artists’ suggestions including ▲creating a specialized street of art museums around Mudeungsan ▲expanding support for art museums ▲developing electric vehicle viewing courses linked with art museums around Mudeungsan.

Mayor Lee said, “I hope culture becomes part of citizens’ daily lives, the city’s dignity, and a future source of income and jobs, giving new vitality to local artists. Let us unite our efforts so that Gwangju can firmly establish its status as a cultural city through active cooperation between local art groups and Gwangju City, taking this special culture and arts week field visit as an opportunity.”

Meanwhile, Gwangju City plans to announce next week measures that can provide practical help to cultural artists based on the opinions proposed on site.

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