Wanju’s Innovative Projects
Oh, Glad to See You! Villages Intertwined with the Culture of Life
Wanju Twos and Threes Culture Masil
2022.12.14Considering these local circumstances, the Wanju Cultural City Support Center actively tried to revitalize the cultural industry and restore communication between citizens, by actively promoting projects to support non-face-to-face cultural activities. Owing to the support for non-face-to-face cultural activities and small-scale cultural activities, Wanju-gun’s cultural places were able to keep going actively without stopping even during the worst spread of infectious diseases.
Cultural Masil (Outing), connecting villages and filling cultural gaps
Accordingly, the Wanju Cultural City Support Center immediately planned and promoted ‘Twos and Threes Cultural Masil’ to resolve the cultural vacuum. It supported local cultural artists collaborating to give small-scale performances and carry out cultural activities visiting villages in the deepest parts of Wanju-gun. From village halls to the culture sharing spaces managed by residents, any place can be a stage for a small -scale performance. In addition, whenever a performance was held, thorough on-site operations and management were carried out in accordance with the quarantine regulations.
As the quarantine regulations were perfectly implemented, from the audience's entrance to the operation of activities, in some villages, residents who could not enter the concert hall once it had reached full capacity, were able to watch the performance from outside the window. In some villages, elderly audience members took out a pocketful of money and put it in the performer's hands. In the middle of December, residents watching a performance from outside the door witnessed an elderly resident slip a 10,000 won bill into the hands of a young artist, and at this everyone firmly felt a cultural vacuum in their minds. Everyone's willingness to make up for it was also felt with certainty.
Wanju Cultural City Support Center experienced the possibility of resolving the cultural gaps and the imbalance in cultural benefits between regions and generations through support for small-scale performances in 2021. Accordingly, they organized ‘Two and Threes Culture Masil’ to connect villages as a regular project in 2022. In particular, this year, through collaboration with the Wanju-gun Life Culture Club Network, they have provided Wanju life culture artists with an opportunity to communicate with local residents. In addition, opportunities for exchanges between clubs were also d by promoting joint concerts centered on the clubs' activity area (eup, myeon).
Through this support, 12 small concerts were held in 12 eups and myeons in Wanju-gun from August to October. Events were held in various places, from the spacious yard of the head of Dubang Village in Gui-myeon to the outdoor stages of Bibinagan in Samrye and the administrative welfare center in Soyang-myeon. More than five clubs collaborated to set up the stage for each concert, and village parties were also held to share the food served by the villagers, although the scale was different.
As they are performances of hobby-based life and culture clubs, performers aged 80 and over often made appearances to play musical instruments or dance. One of the host's regular joke repertoires is that the total age of participants in the team that performed this time is well over 1,000 years old. Nevertheless, they boast as much passion and energy as any leading artist when they perform on the stage.
In ‘Twos and Threes Culture Masil,’ performers on the stage also become members of the audience after completing their turn, and enjoy the stage, Then, when the audience gets excited, they stand up, dance, and sing along. There is no distinction between the performer and the audience, and there is no giver or recipient. They just fill each other's gaps and help each other.