Next Year's Culture and Arts Budget 2.2704 Trillion Won... 33 Billion Won to Cheongwadae

Integration of Regional Culture and Arts Support System, 13 Cultural Cities Selected
Integrated Culture Voucher Increased from 110,000 to 130,000 Won per Person
'K-Culture Festival in Paris' Held at Paris Summer Olympics

The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism announced on the 13th that it has allocated a government budget of 2.2704 trillion won for the cultural and artistic sectors next year. This accounts for 32.5% of the Ministry's total budget of 6.9796 trillion won for next year. By funding source, 1.6383 trillion won is allocated from the general account, 406.4 billion won from the Arts Fund, and 225.7 billion won from the special account. By policy area, 468.1 billion won is allocated for cultural policy, 849.4 billion won for arts policy, 673.3 billion won for regional cultural policy, and 279.6 billion won for others.

A notable change is the integration of the regional cultural and artistic support systems, which were previously managed by multiple institutions with small budgets. The nationwide cultural and artistic creation, production, and distribution support project has been increased to 49 billion won, and new support of 9 billion won and 8 billion won has been allocated respectively for regional hosting of large-scale performances by regional representative art groups and national art groups. A pilot project called the "Republic of Korea Cultural City Anchor Project" will be launched with a budget of 2.6 billion won. This is a metropolitan and network city development model encompassing cultural policies of cultural cities and neighboring cities. Thirteen locations will be designated through local government competitions. The Ministry will also invest 36 billion won for the continuous development of the existing 24 cultural cities. The budget for the Cheongwadae Complex Cultural and Artistic Space, which opened in May last year and has been visited by about 4 million people as of last month, has been increased to 33 billion won. Rest areas will be expanded and additional unopened buildings will be opened.

The budget for the Integrated Cultural Voucher, which supports cultural, artistic, travel, and sports activities for low-income groups, has been increased by 29.5 billion won from this year to 239.7 billion won. Accordingly, the support amount per person will increase by 18%, from 110,000 won to 130,000 won annually. This is the largest increase since 2017. In addition, the Ministry will expand the "Dream Dance Team" for vulnerable children and youth to ten teams and newly support the "Dream Theater Company." Following the opening of the standard performance hall for artists with disabilities, "Modu Art Theater," in the Salvation Army Building Art Hall in Seodaemun-gu, Seoul, in the second half of this year, a space for exhibition activities by artists with disabilities will be created with a budget of 3 billion won. A support contest for artists with disabilities will be conducted with a budget of 7.37 billion won, and a platform will be established for the priority purchase system of creative works by artists with disabilities to promote the activation of disabled artists.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

Various supports will also promote creative activities of young artists. 10 billion won will be invested to revitalize creative spaces, and 12.1 billion won will be allocated for the operation of Art Korea Lab, which opens next month. The latter is a space that comprehensively supports creation, production experiments, and distribution. Support for young artists under exclusive contracts with galleries will be extended from one year to multi-year (3 years). The number of supported artists will also be doubled to 200. Support for young entrepreneurs in the traditional culture sector will also expand the target from existing preliminary and early-stage entrepreneurs (within 3 years) to growth-stage companies (4 to 7 years). Up to 100 million won will be supported for up to 3 years for the former, and up to 140 million won for up to 2 years for the latter.

At the Paris Summer Olympics opening in July next year, the "K-Culture Festival in Paris" will be held. It will promote the charm of K-Culture to the global visitors to France. The Ministry explained, "We will spend 19.84 billion won over 100 days before and after the event to hold the 'Korea Season,' 'Traditional Korea Festival,' performances by national art groups (National Opera Company, National Symphony Orchestra, National Ballet Company), and art exhibitions." A new investment of 4.7 billion won will be made for the "Korean Art Overseas Showcase" project to globalize K-Art. An inbound promotion to introduce Korean artists to visiting overseas art figures will also be promoted with a budget of 1.2 billion won. For the spread of the Korean language, 61 billion won will be supported. The number of Sejong Institutes will be increased to 290 (with 300 dispatched teachers), and about 100 young prospective teachers will be dispatched.

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