The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism (Minister CHAE Hwi-young, MCST), together with the Korea Arts & Culture Education Service (KACES), will hold related events, including the “Culture and Arts Education Forum” and an “International Symposium,” from May 19 (Tuesday) to 31 (Sunday) to commemorate the 15th anniversary of the UNESCO International Arts Education Week.[1]

Culture and Arts Education Forum Led by Practitioners on May 19;

International Symposium on Measuring the Effects of Culture and Arts Education on May 21

First, on May 19, a forum will be held at KACES under the theme “Diagnosing the Current State of Culture and Arts Education.” Based on the results of six meetings attended by some 120 participants—including researchers, planners, artists, educators, and administrators—the forum will redefine the intrinsic value and social significance of culture and arts education, which has functioned over the past two decades as a policy tool for fostering creativity, promoting social integration, and creating jobs. Part 1 will diagnose how the intrinsic value of culture and arts education has been transformed and reshaped within institutional and administrative systems, while Part 2 will explore future directions and tasks for culture and arts education that field stakeholders—including planners, arts educators, and administrators—can put into practice from their respective perspectives.

On May 21, the International Symposium will be held at the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Korea (MMCA) Seoul, under the theme “Measuring the Effects and Social Value of Culture and Arts Education.” In Part 1, Professor Anne Bamford of the University of Sydney in Australia, Susanne Keuchel, Executive Board Member of the Genshagen Foundation, and KIM Joo-ri, Director of the Cultural Talent Development Center at KACES, will discuss the need to measure the effects of culture and arts education and international standards for doing so. Part 2 will take a multilayered approach to effects that cannot be captured by a single indicator. Professor KIM Bung-nyun of the Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at Seoul National University Hospital will present a neuroscience-based analysis of the effects of culture and arts education; Professor Daniel H. Bowen of Texas A&M University will present the academic, social, and emotional causal effects of culture and arts education; and researcher Valeria Pica of G. d’Annunzio University of Chieti-Pescara in Italy will present a methodology for calculating the economic value of culture and arts education. The symposium will be livestreamed on the KACES YouTube channel.

Diverse Related Events from a Humanities Healing Camp to a Joint Orchestra of Dreams Performance

In addition, this year’s Culture and Arts Education Week will feature a range of related events held across the country, including a culture and arts education Official Development Assistance (ODA) results-sharing session (May 20), expert lectures for arts educators working with children and adolescents (May 22), a humanities healing camp for adolescents experiencing digital overdependence (May 20–22), the Cultural Diversity Week event “When the Culture Within Me Shines” (May 23–24), a children’s and youth dance workshop in cooperation with the National Museum of World Writing Systems (May 24), the joint Orchestra of Dreams performance “Feast of Dreams,” open classes at Kkumdarak Cultural Arts School, and performances, exhibitions, and workshops at regional culture and arts education centers.