Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Yu In Chon on May 3 takes a photo with Italian Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation Maria Tripodi at the latter’s ministry in Rome after signing a memorandum of understanding to proceed with 2024-2025 Year of Cultural Exchange between Korea and Italy. (Heo Man-jin from Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism)
By Park Hye Ri
Photos= Heo Man-jin from Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism
Italy this year is hosting events promoting Korean culture to mark 2024-2025 Year of Cultural Exchange between Korea and Italy.
The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism in Seoul on May 4 announced its hosting of promotional events throughout this year in Italy featuring concerts, exhibitions, content and tourism jointly with the Korean Foundation for International Cultural Exchange, Korean Cultural Center in Rome, Korea Creative Content Agency and National Museum of Korea.
The National Gugak Center that day kicked off the campaign by holding “The Prince’s Dream” (Il Sogno del Principe), a show specifically made for the occasion, at Teatro (Theater) Argentina. The performance showcased traditional Korean music and dance such as taepyeongmu (great peace dance), sarangchum (love dance), sogochum (small drum dance) and pangut (folk open-air music), attracting a positive response from the audience.
Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Yu In Chon visited the venue to congratulate the beginning of the exchange year at the site. He watched the opening ceremony with the director of Colosseum Archaeological Park (Parco archeological del Colosseo) and officials from the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation.
Major Italian cities like Rome and Milan will host an exhibition of veteran Korean writers from next month to September, business-to-consumer event for Korean content in July, Korean tourism expo in October and performances of modern Korean dance in November.
The Culture Ministry will cooperate with Italy’s Experimental Center of Cinematography (Centro Sperimentale di Cinematrografia) to screen short films introducing Korea.
A four-month exhibition of sculptor Park Eun Sun’s works will begin next month at leading tourist attractions in Rome through cooperation with the Italian capital’s municipal government and the park. In 2018, the artist won the Fratelli (Brothers) Rosselli, the top sculptor award in Italy.
The ministry will also select areas of common interests of young artists from Korea and Italy such as opera and design and provide support for their joint creation and production. Leading artists from the two countries will also serve as mentors in an exchange project to guide youth artists.
“The common factor between Korea and Italy is that both have grown based on their glowing histories and cultural resources to become future-oriented cultural powers leading today’s world,” Minister Yu said. “We hope that two years of cultural exchange is an opportunity to provide innovative and creative cultural inspiration to the people of both countries.”
To proceed with the exchange year, Minister Yu and Italian Deputy Minister of State for Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation Maria Tripodi on May 3 signed at the latter’s ministry a memorandum of understanding on bilateral cooperation in culture such as arts, the creative industry and exhibitions.
The audience at Teatro (Theater) Argentina in Rome on May 4 applaud after watching “The Prince’s Dream,” a royal dance performance put on by Korea’s National Gugak Center to mark the beginning of 2024-25 Korea-Italy Year of Mutual Cultural Exchange.
hrhr@korea.kr
