"Tripling of Public Funding" Yoon Government Establishes First Ever 'Basic Plan for Supporting Activities of Disabled Artists'

Expansion of Public Project Scale and Creative Preparation Fund Support, and Barrier-Free Space Expansion
Increased Private Sector Subsidy Support for Job Creation of Disabled Artists

At the Blue House Press Hall, Bae Eun-joo, Chairperson of the Disabled Culture and Arts Festival Organizing Committee, and officials from the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism are conducting an on-site inspection to prepare for a special art exhibition by artists with disabilities. Photo by Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Heeyoon] The Yoon Seok-yeol administration has unveiled a policy blueprint to support the activities of artists with disabilities. This is the first time in history that a five-year statutory plan for policies supporting artists with disabilities has been established by any government.

On the 8th, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism announced the "1st Basic Plan for Supporting Cultural and Artistic Activities of Artists with Disabilities" (2022?2026). This plan outlines the policy vision and direction for supporting cultural and artistic activities of artists with disabilities over the next five years and is a statutory plan established under Article 6 of the "Act on Support for Cultural and Artistic Activities of Artists with Disabilities" (abbreviated as the Disabled Artists Support Act).

The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism presented the vision of "a world where artists with disabilities are rightfully respected and everyone is happy" along with five promotion strategies and ten policy tasks simultaneously with the establishment of the basic plan. The core contents focus on strengthening support for the creation and independence of artists with disabilities and reinforcing the policy foundation.

Previously, to establish the basic plan, the Ministry formed a public-private joint subcommittee starting in April last year, consulted with related ministries and local governments, and collected field opinions from artists with disabilities and experts.

According to the "Survey on Cultural and Artistic Activities of Artists with Disabilities" by the Korea Culture and Tourism Institute, 62.2% of artists with disabilities are full-time artists, but their average personal income is only 8.09 million KRW, and income from creative activities is merely 2.18 million KRW. 92.4% of respondents felt that opportunities for cultural and artistic activities were insufficient, and the most needed policy was "expansion of creation support and beneficiaries" (70.5%).

The Ministry plans to increase the annual funding for public contest projects to 20 billion KRW by 2026 (6.7 billion KRW in 2022) to provide more opportunities for creative activities to artists with disabilities. The number of recipients for creative preparation funds will expand from 619 in the first half of 2022 to 2,000 annually.

To expand creative activity spaces, barrier-free creative spaces including standard performance halls for artists with disabilities and customized residential workspaces (residencies) will be established. Accordingly, a standard performance hall remodeled within the Salvation Army building in Seoul will begin operation next year.

Basic Plan for Supporting Cultural and Artistic Activities of Disabled Artists Phase 1 (2022~2026). Vision and 5 Promotion Strategies · 10 Major Policy Tasks. Table provided by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism

Support will also be provided for job creation to strengthen the independence of artists with disabilities. To expand regular employment of artists with disabilities in companies or public institutions, the Ministry will link demand institutions with disabled artist recruitment and promote subsidies for artistic activities of artists with disabilities.

Additionally, a legal basis will be established to allow artists with disabilities to work as fixed-term employees for more than two years. When private sector disability art groups are established, incentives including budget support will be discovered and expanded. At the same time, a "disabled artists enterprise" category will be newly created in the art enterprise startup support project, with additional points awarded.

An art class usage voucher for persons with disabilities will be introduced to expand opportunities for all disabled individuals to take art education courses. The Ministry will cooperate with the Ministry of Education to introduce "culture and arts specialized classrooms" in special schools and special classes (in general schools) and strengthen cultural and artistic education for youth.

To promote quantitative and qualitative growth of the disabled artists market, mediators active in fields such as education, planning, creation, and distribution will be trained, and development of AI-based creative tools by field and disability type will be supported through cultural technology research and development (R&D) projects.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism allocated a total of 26.1 billion KRW in the 2023 government budget for the "Hamkke Nuri Support" project to revitalize cultural and artistic activities of artists with disabilities, an increase of 3.5 billion KRW compared to the previous year.

The new budget includes newly reflected projects such as ▲creation of specialized activity spaces for artists with disabilities (1.3 billion KRW, new) ▲support for activities based on new technologies for artists with disabilities (1.1 billion KRW, new) ▲support for art education for persons with disabilities (500 million KRW, new) ▲development of a platform to support distribution of creative works by artists with disabilities (200 million KRW, new).

A Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism official said, "The '1st Basic Plan for Supporting Cultural and Artistic Activities of Artists with Disabilities' will realize the Yoon administration’s national agenda of establishing a fair and comprehensive support system for artists and will lead to a new level of cultural and artistic activities for artists with disabilities," adding, "We expect it to open a new horizon in the disabled arts community."

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