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(Last updated: 25 Feb 2008)
Trends and opportunities
The market
The South Korean performing arts industry is experiencing a healthy expansion, mirroring the wider financial success of the country. A recent boom in musicals, children’s theatre and rising interest in circuses provide a perfect climate for Australian performing groups to enter the market.
The performing arts market has grown in the last few years due to changes in Korea’s social and industrial structure. The introduction of a five day working week, increasing demand for leisure culture and local governments’ promotion of regional arts festivals are some of the key attributes to the market growth.
Key indicators of the Korean performing arts market in 2006:
- A$1.1 billion in total government spending on events and facilities
- 115 performing arts festivals
- 637 performing art facilities (847 performing art centres)
- 54.5 per cent of the facilities are centralised in the capital areas (Seoul, Gyeonggi, and Incheon)
- 29 million attendees at 42,055 performances
Examples of recent international acts include Miss Saigon, Lion King, Burn the Floor (by Dance Partner Productions) and Melt (by Lucy Guerin Inc).
The Korean performing arts market is characterised by a number of key factors:
- Government funding and support provided to performing arts events and festivals and to the construction of arts centres in the regional areas.
- Launching of the Performing Art Market Seoul (PAMS) in 2005. PAMS is regarded as the turning point of the Korean performing arts market upgrading its distribution structure from individual and unofficial contacts to open arenas where the exchange of ideas and performances can take place among performing groups and art centres.
- Increased government funding of exchange programs with overseas arts markets and festivals.
- A recent boom in musicals generated by the introduction of licensed and imported musicals and rising interest in circuses generated by recent Cirque du Soleil performances in Seoul.
- Movicals (blending of movies with musicals) is in trend as a result of domestic filmmaking firms’ growing interest in the musical market.
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|
2003 |
2004 |
2005 |
2006 |
|
General |
1,059 |
1,327 |
1,578 |
1,644 |
|
Musical |
174 |
224 |
274 |
288 |
|
Children/youth
theatre |
570 |
789 |
909 |
685 |
| Total: |
1,803 |
2,336 |
2,761 |
2,617 |
Opportunities
Arts market and festivals
There are numerous performing arts festivals providing opportunities for Australian artists and performing arts groups to make contact with Korean audiences. There were 115 performing arts events and festivals held throughout Korea in 2006.
The following are some of the large international festivals that are funded by government and corporate sponsorship.
The Performing Arts Market in Seoul (PAMS), which was first held in 2005, is quite a new contender compared to other overseas performing arts markets. For the last two years, this Seoul-based event has functioned as an outlet for the distribution of domestic performing arts and also as a stepping stone for importing international arts works.
The Seoul Performing Arts Festival (SPAF) introduced 38 works from 16 countries with more than 48,000 attendees. This festival started in 2001.
The Gwacheon Hanmadang Festival which will take place from 23 to 28 September 2008 in Gwancheon, showcases art works suitable for outdoor performance such as street theatre.
This festival was first held in 1997.
The Puppet Festival Chuncheon, which started in 1989, has become a well-known performance-oriented art festival offering new types of artistic experiences through puppetry.
The Chuncheon International Mime Festival is an annual performing arts festival focusing on contemporary mime, physical movement, object and visual theatre, street theatre, installation performance, and site-specific performance. This festival was first held in 1989.
The Uijeongbu Music Theatre Festival is an international performing arts festival focusing on music theatre. The first festival was held in May 2002.
The Ansan International Busking Art Festival which introduces street shows of various genre of busking art. In 2007 there were performances by 26 organisations from 16 countries.
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