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This week Voluntary Arts hosted the first visit to the UK by representatives of the South Korean Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and the National Community Cultural Foundation. In 2014 the Korean Government introduced the ‘Regional Culture Promotion Law’ which states that central and regional government should support everyday cultural activity and create community cultural space. The law makes it clear that the main unit of everyday cultural activity is voluntary ‘cultural clubs’ organised by amateur artists – ordinary citizens who love arts and culture. The Korean Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism established three main policies: creating space for voluntary cultural clubs and community cultural activity; promoting collaboration between voluntary cultural clubs (locally and regionally); and expanding opportunities for everyday creative activity and voluntary participation. To deliver these policies, in 2016 the Ministry created a new Community Cultural Foundation. The Foundation is a government agency (similar to our Arts Councils) but focussing specifically on everyday creativity and participation. It has created 110 Community Cultural Centres across South Korea and supports approximately 32,000 local voluntary cultural clubs. This week six representatives from the South Korean Ministry of Culture and the Community Cultural Foundation came to London to learn more about Voluntary Arts, UK Government policy and to see how UK people take part in the voluntary arts in everyday life.
Damien and I had arranged a series of meetings and visits for our South Korean guests. Most of the meetings took place at Cecil Sharp House in Camden – the historic home of the English Folk Dance and Song Society (EFDSS). Over three days we were joined at Cecil Sharp House by Katy Spicer (Chief Executive of EFDSS and Vice Chair of Voluntary Arts) and by Barbara Eifler (Executive Director of Making Music), Jo Hunter (Chief Executive of 64 Million Artists and one of the authors of the ‘Everyday Creativity’ report), Keith Nichol and Chris Marnoch (from the Cultural Diplomacy team at the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport), Phil Cave (Director, Audiences and Engagement at Arts Council England) and by Nick Wilson and Jonathan Gross from King’s College, London (two of the authors of the ‘Towards Cultural Democracy’ report).
On Monday afternoon we visited Broadcasting House where Stephen James-Yeoman and Hannah Lambert talked to our Korean visitors about the Get Creative campaign. We also had a tour of the BBC newsroom and introduced our guests to the new BBC World Service Korean team – who were, coincidentally, at Broadcasting House for day one of their training before returning to Seoul to start this new Korean-language radio service.
On Monday evening we visited a rehearsal of an amateur choir – London City Voices in Soho – where conductor Richard Swann taught us his four-part arrangement of ‘One Day Like This’ by Elbow.
On Tuesday afternoon we visited the headquarters of the Crafts Council in Islington where Crafts Council Chief Executive, Rosy Greenlees, and Chair, Geoff Crossick, described to our Korean visitors the transition the Crafts Council has undertaken in recent years. Rosy explained that the original role of the Crafts Council had had been purely to support professional makers but that now around 40% of its work is on ‘education’ – both in schools and with amateurs and everyday creativity. Geoff Crossick also spoke about the AHRC Cultural Value Project and his resulting report ‘Understanding the Value of Arts and Culture’ which broadens the scope of the discussion on cultural value to include, alongside the subsidised cultural sectors, the commercial sector, and amateur and participatory arts and culture, which are how most people engage – emphasising the way they are part of a single ecology.
Finally, on Wednesday afternoon we visited Questors Theatre in Ealing where Maggie Turner and Andrea Bath gave our Korean guests a backstage tour of the theatre, explaining how this amateur theatre company managed to raise funds to build and manage a magnificent new theatre. It was a lovely way to finish our three days with the South Korean representatives.
It was fascinating to find out more about the new South Korean Government support for everyday creativity but it was also incredibly interesting to reflect on our progress in this area in the UK in recent years. Explaining what you do to foreign visitors – through a translator – is a remarkably good way of thinking more carefully about things you usually take for granted. Looking back at the presentation I gave to the World Culture Clubs Conference in South Korea in 2009, I was struck by how far we have come since then, particularly the explosion in UK academic research into the amateur arts and everyday creativity and the developments in media coverage of voluntary and amateur arts in this country.
Many thanks to everyone who helped to make the South Korean visit such a success. Particular thanks to Katy for hosting us at Cecil Sharp House and to Damien for managing the programme of meetings and visits which all went incredibly smoothly.
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