| Improvement of Cultural Leisure Policy by Using Rural Cultural Resources | |||
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| Author | Kim, Kwangsun | ||
| Views | 60339 | Publication Date | 2018.03.14 |
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Background & Purpose of Research Cultural leisure policies for rural areas contribute to enhancing the quality of life for rural residents by expanding cultural leisure facilities, providing opportunities for experiencing high-class cultural performances that are common in urban areas, and supporting professional human resources for the supply of arts and culture. The current policies, however, have limitations from some aspects. First of all, a policy for supplying cultural leisure infrastructure simply aimed at keeping up with urban areas works only in a limited range in rural areas, where the local population is dispersed with low accessibility. Second, the current policies have rather had an adverse impact on conserving the cultural identity of rural areas and forming cultural communities. Third, the trend of policies shifting from the democratization of culture to the cultural democracy has not been applied to the current cultural leisure policies for rural areas. Fourth, the current policies do not properly show changes in the purpose and values that the public hopes to pursue through cultural leisure activities. In the purpose of overcoming such limitations, changes have been made for cultural leisure policies in the 3rd Basic Plan for Improvement of Quality of Rural Life (2015-2019). This basic plan includes not only supply-based cultural leisure policy challenges like the previous ones, such as the establishment of cultural leisure facilities and the increase in support for culturally isolated areas, but also those showing recent changes in cultural leisure, such as the expansion of the voluntary participation of local residents in cultural leisure activities, and the development, conservation and utilization of traditional folk culture. From the perspective of concept, new policy challenges are designed to promote cultural leisure policies for rural areas by harnessing cultural resources that have been conserved and succeeded in rural areas, rather than just mimicking urban cultural policies. From the aspect of methodology, supply- and expert-oriented methods are avoided, while cultural and leisure activities will be invigorated by encouraging rural residents to participate in cultural activities. Still, this basic plan lacks detailed implementation plans to deal with new policy challenges. That is because efforts have not sufficiently been exerted to identify the current state of cultural leisure activities using rural cultural resources or conduct surveys of demand among rural residents. Moreover, another critical cause is the absence of analysis and prospect for how largely participation-based cultural leisure activities are and will be carried out compared to supply-oriented activities based on infrastructure and experts. In this situation, this study will present policy direction for improving the cultural leisure policies for rural areas by using local cultural resources, so that such policies can contribute to overcoming the limitations in the previous supply- and infrastructure-oriented policies and contributing to improving the quality of life for local residents. In particular, the study will propose some measures for promoting cultural leisure activities with the use of traditional folk culture and increasing the participation of rural residents, which are the key challenges pursued by the Policy for Improvement of Quality of Rural Life. More detailed objectives of the study are as follows. First, the study will analyze the recent changes in the paradigm of culture and leisure, and use implications to identify the potential in cultural leisure policies using local cultural resources. Second, it will look into the current cultural leisure policies for rural communities and the state of supply of cultural leisure infrastructure in rural areas, thereby diagnosing the present cultural leisure conditions in rural areas. Third, it will identify how cultural leisure activities are carried out in rural areas with the participation of residents using local cultural resources, and analyze the demand of residents for cultural leisure programs. Fourth, based on the result of analyses and surveys, the study will present detailed policy programs for improving relevant policies and developing them into projects. Method of Research This study employs five research methods. The first one is the use of literature. By this method, the study reviews previous studies regarding cultural leisure policies for rural areas, and examines how relevant policies have been implemented. It will also analyze changes in the concept, scope and characteristics of culture and leisure in each time period, and the trend in culture and leisure in advanced countries. Based on the review of literature and analysis, the study estimates the potential for facilitating cultural/leisure activities in rural areas by using local cultural resources with the participation of local residents. The second method is a statistical analysis of the supply of cultural/leisure infrastructure and the accessibility to such facilities. Based on existing statistics, the study looks into how rural residents are enjoying cultural and leisure activities. The third one is a survey of rural residents, which is subdivided into two categories. The first one is the survey of residents in eups (towns) and myeons (townships), asking about their awareness of cultural leisure activities using local cultural resources and their demand for policies. The second one is the survey of members of clubs and conservation society groups in the three target areas. This survey is aimed at identifying how well cultural leisure activities have been promoted based on local cultural resources and the capacity of each region, rather than focusing on individual characteristics of residents. The fourth method is to visit the target areas and interview with people involved. Interviewees are selected considering the features of each target area. Based on interviews, the study analyzes the local characteristics, performance, difficulties, and policy demand among residents regarding how they use local cultural resources to participate in cultural leisure activities. The fifth method is to assign experts to make reports, and hold a few of consultation meetings. The overall direction and contents of the study are examined in the consultation meetings, while investigations into cultural and leisure activities with the use of local cultural resources, the key element of this study, are separately conducted. In terms of the investigations into the target areas, the local experts who are deeply involved in such activities in each area were selected to make reports on the characteristics of cultural leisure in the target areas where the authors of this study cannot easily approach. Research Result and Implications With the advancement of the capitalist economy and intensifying industrialization and urbanization, cultural leisure activities have been standardized and commercialized. In this process, traditional folk culture conserved and succeeded in rural areas has disappeared. Nevertheless, the recent changes in the paradigm of culture and leisure, including the cultural democracy, social leisure and serious leisure, supplement the limitations in top-down supply-oriented cultural leisure policies, and present the potential for new policies that can utilize local cultural resources to accelerate cultural leisure activities in rural areas. According to the survey of rural residents, there are quite high demand and expectations for cultural leisure activities with the use of local cultural resources. In particular, a huge potential for the future cultural leisure activities in rural areas has been found in the fields of traditional music, folk painting and other traditional arts, traditional handicraft, life styles and martial arts. More than 30% of the respondents recognize these fields as resources for cultural leisure activities. In addition, they want to enjoy such activities with other people in clubs or classes, rather than participating in such activities alone. This shows how support should be provided for cultural leisure activities in rural areas with the use of local cultural resources. The survey result says that rural residents have high expectations for the role of cultural and leisure activities utilizing local cultural resources in restoring local communities and having a positive influence on future generations. Many find it important to provide younger generations at their early age with sufficient opportunities to experience and learn about rural culture, so that cultural leisure activities using local cultural resources can be promoted. A large share of the respondents also think that rural culture should be modernized or integrated with modern culture. In the case studies about Gochang-gun, Hwasun-gun and Jeungpyeong-gun, several policy implications have been identified. First, rural culture can develop into cultural leisure activities for rural residents by facilitating the function of intermediate support groups such as culture conservation associations. Second, teenagers should be encouraged to participate in rural cultural activities. Third, when community cultural centers are utilized, they should be operated with consideration for daily life patterns of local residents. Fourth, cultural leisure activities that harness local cultural resources create new jobs for local residents and help them establish the welfare system. Fifth, clubs and activity groups using local cultural resources can serve as a tool to establish and expand the groundwork for human resources that are insufficient in rural areas. Sixth, such cultural leisure activities can be accelerated by utilizing the diversity and dispersed locations of villages. Based on these major research results, this study presents four directions for cultural leisure policy of rural areas. First, the explicit institutional foundation should be built to promote rural culture. In other words, the groundwork should be laid with laws and institutions to recognize and implement cultural leisure policies for rural areas as local policies, not sector-specific policies. Second, policies for supplying the infrastructure for culture and leisure that is in the poor conditions in rural communities should be continuously implemented. “Small” series facilities, such as “Small Cinema” as a policy project, should be expanded, while “Small” base centers should be built in each village, eup and myeon. Third, new cultural resources in rural areas should be explored with the characteristics of each area. Fourth, the human resource development system is required for special cultural resources in each area. Based on these directions for improving relevant policies, this study proposes detailed implementation measures. First, the present Local Culture Promotion Act should be amended to the Rural & Local Culture Promotion Act (tentative title). Second, the Specialized School for Rural Culture and the Rural Culture Academy (tentative titles) should be run in each si (rural city) and gun (county). Third, cultural leisure activities using rural culture should be linked with cultural welfare and social jobs in rural areas. Last but not least, cultural leisure activity promotion projects should be classified according to the spatial features of rural cultural resources. To this end, policy projects should be implemented to nurture rural cultural community groups at the level of village and region, establish a hub-and-spoke-type cultural leisure network at the level of si and gun, and build a network for utilizing rural cultural resources at the level of region which consists of a few of sis and guns. Researchers: Kim Kwang-sun, You Eunyoung, Heo Joonyung Research period: 2017. 1. ~ 2017. 10. E-mail address: yeskskim@krei.re.kr |
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