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| Dinesh Patnaik, director general of the Indian Council for Cultural Relations, speaks at the 2021 Culture Communication Forum at the Grand Hyatt Seoul, Wednesday. Courtesy of CICI |
By Dong Sun-hwa
Governments around the world should do more to help artists affected by the pandemic to continue their creative work, cultural experts said during the 2021 Culture Communication Forum (CCF), Wednesday.
Launched in 2011, the CCF is an annual event where cultural leaders around the world discuss ways to promote cultural exchange and development. It is co-hosted by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Korean Culture and Information Service and the Corea Image Communication Institute (CICI).
"Big platforms are seeing a growth in their profits amid the lingering COVID-19 pandemic, but historically, it was smaller platforms like nightclubs that gave birth to the new cultures," Dinesh Patnaik, director general of Indian Council for Cultural Relations, said during his closing remarks for the forum, which ran from Aug. 31 to Sept. 1 at the Grand Hyatt Seoul.
"Hence, governments should seek ways to support 'smaller' artists, so that they can muster their creative power. Governments need to listen to their voices."
His view was echoed during the forum by several high-ranking officials in the area of culture. Song Seung-hwan, the executive artistic director of PMC Production, pointed out that these artists cannot solely resort to digital platforms amid the global health crisis.
"Artistic activities are more than an exchange of information," he said. "They facilitate communication among different people and create certain impressions. Thus, online platforms are not the perfect substitutes for the virus-affected artists."
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| CICI President Choi Jung-wha, fifth from left, poses with the panelists at the 2021 CCF at the Grand Hyatt Seoul, Wednesday. Courtesy of CICI |
Toronto-based filmmaker Scott Miller Berry underscored the significance of governments' financial support, saying, "These artists need guaranteed basic income instead of universal basic income."
The forum was also attended by Mark Lippert, former U.S. ambassador to Korea and current Asia-Pacific policy chief of YouTube, Miriam Sun, co-founder of MoCA Shanghai, Rod Fritz, director of media relations at AfriMedNetwork, and Singaporean Ambassador to Korea Eric Teo, among others.
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