Seminar Held on "Theater as a Cultural Space"
A theater is not just a theater anymore. A venue to review the past and future of Korean theater house took place last month.
Korean Film Association and
Korean Film Council (KOFIC) hosted a seminar on “Theater as a Cultural Space” on December 28th last year at
CGV Myungdong Cine Library, Seoul.
The number of Korean film audience has reached 200 million for three successive years and the number of theater visits per person is 4.19. However, it is expected that the number of movie goers will diminish due to aging of theaters and development of smart devices. In such circumstances, it was a very meaningful discussion to review the viability of theater as a diverse cultural space.
The seminar consisted of keynote speeches and discussions on the themes including “the History of the Change in Korean Theaters,” “the Current Status and Transformation of Korean Theaters,” and “the Ways to Expand the Function of Theaters: a Venue for Screening Only to a Venue for Cultural Appreciation.” HAN Sang-eon (professor at Hanyang University), NOH Kwang-woo (professor at Korea University), PARK Kyeong-soo (Strategy Assistance Team Manager, CGV), KIM Si-moo (president of Korean Film Association), LEE Sang-seok (Chief Director of Future Strategy Division, KOFIC) participated in the discussions with informative speeches and questions.
HAN made a keynote speech in “the History of the Change in Korean Theaters” section and reviewed the early theater culture in Korea when the theaters were a much more open space. In “the Current Status and Transformation of Korean Theaters,” current operation and development goals of multiplexes were examined and the expansion of theater function was discussed.
For "The Ways to Expand the Theater Funtions", researches on “Art Houses’ Screening, Culture and Education in New York” and “the Present of French Theaters in Terms of Culture and Art Activities, and Education Assistance” introduced the kind of direction that Korean theaters should consider.