Gwangju City Begins 'With Corona'... Rolling Up Sleeves to Support Recovery of Small Business Owners and Cultural Artists

Installation and Operation of Gwangju Small Business Doctor Center and Cultural Artist Bodum Center

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters, Reporter Yoon Jamin] Gwangju Metropolitan City is taking the lead in supporting the daily recovery of small business owners and cultural artists as the ‘With Corona’ phase begins, balancing quarantine measures and livelihood vitality.

On the 29th, Gwangju City announced that it will establish and operate the ‘Gwangju Small Business Doctor Center’ and the ‘Cultural Artist Bodum Center’ from November 1 to help small business owners and cultural artists resume their activities.

Mayor Lee said at a briefing on the same day, “We will establish and operate dedicated centers to support small business owners facing bankruptcy and closure crises due to prolonged COVID-19 and cultural artists struggling to maintain even minimal livelihoods.”

The Gwangju Small Business Doctor Center, which will assist in normalizing the management of 100,000 small business owners, will be established at the Gwangju Economic Employment Promotion Agency Foundation and will provide comprehensive consulting services such as ▲management diagnosis, commercial district and business feasibility analysis, customized marketing support ▲financial support including policy fund loans and regional credit guarantee foundation-backed loans ▲stage-by-stage and customized education from startup to leap and growth, and franchising.

The center will assign professional consultants to provide one-stop counseling and support from management diagnosis to problem-solving for small business owners.

In addition, it plans to integrate and guide small business support policies scattered across central government departments to enable active utilization.

The center will operate from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. on weekdays, and both in-person consultations and inquiries via phone and email are available. Also, upon request from small business owners, it will actively listen to and resolve difficulties through a ‘visiting service.’

The Cultural Artist Bodum Center, established at the Gwangju Cultural Foundation, will provide dedicated support to cultural artists who are experiencing mental and material difficulties due to various performance cancellations, lack of exhibition and appearance opportunities, and decreased sales caused by COVID-19.

The city will assign tailored experts to comprehensively support cultural artists with mental stress counseling and healing, administrative and legal support services related to startup, creation, and rights protection, as well as labor, welfare, and medical fields.

Additionally, the city plans to expand the cultural arts fund to strengthen the support environment for artists’ creation and production, and promote enrollment in ‘Art Activity Safety Insurance’ to ensure safe artistic activities.

The center’s operating hours are from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. on weekdays, and both in-person consultations and inquiries via phone and email are available.

Along with this, Mayor Lee will lead the formation of the ‘Daily Recovery Promotion Team’ to actively address the difficulties of small business owners and cultural artists.

The promotion team will periodically conduct in-depth analysis of consultation contents through the centers and prepare continuous support measures such as system improvements and budget securing.

It will also prepare and announce next month a comprehensive daily recovery support plan covering the entire city administration, including support by industry and social class.

Meanwhile, since the first confirmed COVID-19 case occurred on February 3 last year, Gwangju City has effectively blocked the spread of local infections through proactive and practical quarantine measures ahead of the government and other local governments for one year and nine months.

As a result, Gwangju recorded the lowest cumulative confirmed cases (5,332), the lowest incidence rate per 100,000 population (367.71), and the lowest number of deaths (29) among the seven metropolitan cities and special cities.

Furthermore, to support citizens facing economic difficulties due to COVID-19, the city announced 14 livelihood stabilization measures, providing 304.6 billion KRW to approximately 1.18 million citizens and businesses.

Mayor Lee stated, “Today, we are prioritizing the announcement of daily recovery support plans for small business owners and cultural artists, and we plan to additionally announce support plans by industry and social class next month.”

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