Arts Education Policy and Cultural Diversity in South Korea

Abstract

It was in 2005 when the Convention on Cultural Diversity was signed, which served as a momentum for the concept of cultural diversity to be fully recognized in Korea. The notion of cultural diversity was dealt with in terms of multicultural family support policies that was pushed ahead with the proliferation of immigrants within Korea. This, in turn, was expanded toward mutual understanding between immigrants and the indigenous as well as the perception of education on multicultural society, in policies for supporting settlement and social adjustment of marriage immigrants or multicultural families from 2006. Since then, the Convention on Cultural Diversity was ratified by the National Assembly in 2010, and the “Act on the Promotion and Protection of Cultural Diversity” was enacted in 2014, where a social consensus on cultural differences or multicultural society went beyond toward the viewpoint of overall cultural diversity of the society. This Act’s purpose is to establish foundations for pursuing social integration, by resolving cultural conflicts embedded within the Korean society, such as “cultural differences between income groups, generations and regions”, “diverse minority cultures (such as the elderly, disabled, youth, and women) and mainstream cultures of the society,” or the “farming and fishing village culture and urban culture.” Likewise, it can be witnessed that the concept of “cultural diversity” is set to a very broad range of subject areas and contents. In essence, cultural diversity can be regarded as accepting and recognizing differences in cultural diversity, and building minds and attitudes of acceptance with expressions to acknowledge and enjoy such differences. For realization, all individuals should be provided with equal and diverse opportunities for enjoyment and expressions on arts and culture. The arts and culture education policy related to cultural diversity can be found in “Support for Arts and Culture Education Act”, enacted in 2005. It stipulates the enjoyment of art and participation in arts education from various social classes. The basic principle of arts and culture education is targeted to support “all citizens”, so that various classes can enjoy arts education experiences by providing support regardless of their demographic, social, economic, physical and spatial conditions. The arts drive personal and social changes by proposing creative and novel stimuli at the root of cultural diversity. Arts education extends empathy and understanding toward people with different arts and cultural perspectives, by learning artistic viewpoints and expanding artistic manifestations and sympathy. In this respect, arts education related to cultural diversity can contribute to all people through various and new artistic experiences to awaken and open senses toward unfamiliar and heterogeneous experiences, and to provide opportunities for intercultural exchange through arts education.