Gwangju City to Significantly Improve Cultural and Arts Support Projects

Deriving 13 Tasks from 3 Major Policies... Model Cases of Public-Private Cooperative Administration Including Institutional and Practice Improvements

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters, Reporter Yoon Jamin] Gwangju Metropolitan City announced on the 14th that it will significantly improve its ‘Cultural and Arts Support Project’ to achieve a new leap in local culture and arts.

This initiative is part of the follow-up measures for the ‘5 Together Culture Vision 20 Policies.’

The ‘5 Together Culture Vision 20 Policies’ was formulated by reflecting the opinions gathered during the ‘Special Culture and Arts Week,’ held from March 22 to 26, when Mayor Lee Yong-seop personally visited cultural and artistic sites to hear voices from the field.

Since May, the city has formed a ‘Cultural and Arts Support Project Improvement Task Force’ consisting of the city, the Cultural Foundation, and private experts, holding a total of seven meetings to listen to diverse opinions from the cultural and artistic community and to derive the final outcomes.

The improvement plan includes bold reforms of existing systems and practices, along with 13 tasks under three major policies such as strengthening support for cultural and artistic creators’ creation and production, and enhancing the rights of cultural artists.

First, existing systems and practices will be boldly improved.

The policy improvements include ▲advancing the announcement period for cultural and arts subsidy projects ▲establishing guidelines for performance arts participation fees ▲clarifying copyright ownership of creation results from support projects ▲expanding the allocation of participation fees to protect the rights of cultural and artistic creators (limited to the Cultural Foundation’s Regional Culture and Arts Specialization Support Project) ▲simplifying the settlement process for small-scale support projects by the Cultural Foundation.

Reflecting voices from the field that the announcement period for integrated public offering projects is too late, causing difficulties in securing venues and staff for events, the announcement for the next year’s projects will be advanced to the time when the year-end main budget is confirmed. Also, standards for participation fees in performance arts for subsidy project participants will be established to ensure fair compensation and a fair contract environment.

Additionally, the copyright holders of creations produced through subsidy projects will be clearly designated as the creators to guarantee intellectual property rights, while the city will be able to use the works free of charge for public purposes through consultation, with management guidelines and grant conditions being revised accordingly.

For the Cultural Foundation’s Regional Culture and Arts Specialization Support Project only, the representative’s participation fee allocation ratio will be increased (from 10% to 20%), and participation fees for artists themselves will be permitted. Furthermore, for small-scale support projects, a basis for omitting settlement proof will be established (subject to the Cultural Foundation board’s approval) to simplify the settlement process and allow creators to focus on their creative activities.

Support for creation and production will also be strengthened.

To enhance support for creation and production activities, plans include ▲(new) operating cultural and arts creation and production support projects on a two-year basis ▲producing Gwangju-specialized cultural and artistic works ▲expanding support for creative activities by life cycle (expanding the Regional Culture and Arts Specialization Support Project) ▲(new) strengthening support for creation and production by artists with disabilities (Gwangju-type support for artists with disabilities) ▲expanding cultural mecenat for stable funding of cultural artists (activating Gwangju-type cultural mecenat ‘3 Major Cultural Companionships’) ▲(new) establishing an integrated cultural and arts promotion platform (December 2021).

Reflecting field opinions that existing creation support projects allow only 5 to 6 months to actually produce works after administrative procedures such as public offerings, a new two-year creation support project will be introduced. Support projects for senior, young, and emerging artists will be expanded to enhance the social value of cultural and arts support projects.

The ‘Gwangju-type support project for artists with disabilities’ will be promoted, including support for creation, production, and exhibition spaces for artists with disabilities, and establishing a network base to spread understanding of culture and arts for people with disabilities.

To activate mecenat, the Gwangju-type cultural mecenat ‘3 Major Cultural Companionships’ will be promoted to reduce the sponsorship matching burden for young and emerging artists, and corporate sponsors will be actively sought through initiatives such as the traveling mecenat ‘IR’ Day.

Moreover, the currently under-construction integrated cultural and arts platform will serve as a gateway for performances (ticketing system), exhibition trends, cultural and arts job information, and cultural and arts community information exchange, and will be fully operational starting this December.

Finally, efforts will be made to enhance the rights of cultural artists. To guarantee the status and rights of cultural artists, plans include ▲strengthening the operation of the ‘Artist Support Communication Center’ ▲(new) supporting enrollment in the specialized ‘Art Activity Safety Insurance’ for cultural artists.

The Artist Support Communication Center will shift to a field-centered support system for artist welfare, operating one-stop support and status guarantee services for artists.

Programs to strengthen artists’ capabilities such as entrepreneurship, creation, and rights protection, as well as consulting linked with experts in administration, law, welfare, and psychology, including the distribution of standard contracts, will also be supported.

To enable artists to engage in creative activities in a stable environment, the city plans to promote enrollment in ‘Art Activity Safety Insurance’ to establish a more comprehensive social safety net.

Detailed plans will be developed by continuously communicating with the cultural and arts field and collecting their opinions as the project is actively promoted.

Kim Jun-young, Director of the Cultural Tourism and Sports Office of the city, said, “This improvement plan for cultural and arts support projects is a model case of cooperative administration prepared by listening to diverse opinions from the cultural and arts field. We will not let it be a one-time effort but will continuously strengthen support for the cultural and arts ecosystem to fully unleash Gwangju’s unique and distinctive charm, creating a Gwangju where citizens and artists grow together through culture.”

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