□ The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and the Korean Foundation for International Cultural Exchange have invited 12 art directors and people in charge of international cooperation from 12 major institutions of art and culture in 10 countries for a project dubbed “Traveling Korean Arts PLUS” from October 7 to October 11. The director of the National Dance Theater in Hungary, the head of the international cooperation office at the Moscow State Tchaikovsky Conservatory in Russia, and the director of international programs at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in the United States are among those who will be visiting Korea. During their five-day stay in Seoul, they will learn about the local performing arts scene and meet with local performing groups to discuss cooperation and exchanges in art and culture.

□ Since 2015, the “Traveling Korean Arts PLUS” project has invited people from major institutions of art and culture abroad every fall to provide them with an opportunity to widen their understanding of Korean art and culture. Experts in the performing arts were invited in the odd-numbered years, and the visual arts in the even-numbered years, to programs linked to the Performing Arts Market in Seoul (PAMS) and Gwangju Biennale to help them understand Korean art and culture.

□ As this year’s program is focused on dance and theater, the participants will view performances at PAMS and the Seoul International Dance Festival. They will also attend lectures on Korean performing arts and share their experiences in an international cultural exchange. They will also meet with national and private performing groups in Korea, such as the National Theater of Korea and the Korean section of the International Dance Council of UNESCO (CID-UNESCO), to seek ways to promote cooperation and exchanges. Officials in charge of the performing arts at overseas Korean culture centers will also be invited to devise realistic plans for cooperation. SsingSsing, a Korean band that fuses Korean folk music with rock, performed at Southbank Centre in London and the Brooklyn Bowl in New York last year thanks to planning by art directors and Korean culture center staff who visited Korea in 2017 for the Traveling Korean Arts PLUS.

□ Traveling Korean Arts PLUS has operated since 2015 as a part of the Traveling Korean Arts project, which was designed to promote international art and culture exchanges. It plans performances and exhibits through overseas Korean culture centers, which in turn cooperate with performance halls, art galleries and festival organizers abroad. This year, eight exhibits and eight performances are on tour in 16 countries. KOFICE will receive applications for the Traveling Korean Arts project from overseas Korean culture centers preparing for projects in 2020-2021 from late October.