International Teacher Education Conference 2014 1

International Teacher Education Conference 2014
Arts Education for Creative Community Building Illustrated by Wol-Wall
Festival in Seoul
Haekyoung Lee a*
a
College of Art, Kookmin University
Abstract
Wol-Wall Festival is a festival I established and ran from 2009 to 2011 in Seoul, Korea. Wol-Wall means “to
leap over” aiming to transcend the wall between the arts and everyday life. The festival explored how
universities can utilize a neighborhood’s natural, social, cultural environments to foster the development of a
creative community through art education and cultural activities. There were three goals of Wol-Wall. First,
establishing a creative partnership between the local government, university, artists, and residents. Second,
highlighting the characteristics of the community and involving the residents in creative activities through arts
education. Third, revitalizing the history of the neighborhood to develop new cultural contents and transcend the
wall between generations. This paper is in two parts. The first section will demonstrate the evolution of Wol-
Wall Festival. The second will explore the performances prepared by professional actors and amateur residents,
their creative processes of arts education, and regional development.
Keywords.
Introduction
Creative Community through the Arts
Wol-Wall Festival is a festival I ran for three years from 2009 to 2011 in Bukjeoung Walled Neighborhood
(or Bukjeong Village) of Seongbuk-gu, Seoul, Korea. The name Wol-Wall combines the Chinese character
(hanja) 越 (wol) that means “to leap over” or “to transcend” and the English word Wall. It contains the meaning
of transcending the wall between the arts and everyday life, between generations, and between regions. The
festival was based on a series of research that explored how universities can utilize a neighborhood’s natural,
social, cultural environments to foster the development of a creative community through research, education,
and artistic activities (Lee, 2006).
There were three core goals of Wol-Wall. First, establishing a creative community through a creative
partnership between the local government, university, artists, and residents. Second, highlighting the history and
characteristics of Seoungbuk 2-dong and involving the residents in cultural activities through arts education.
Third, revitalizing the works of influential artists who resided in the neighborhood to develop new cultural
contents and transcend the wall between generations.
This paper is in two parts. The first section will explore the beginnings of Wol-Wall and its development
from 2009-2011. The second section will critically explore the performances and their creative processes of arts
education and regional development.
Evolution of Wol-Wall Festival
The Beginnings of Wol-Wall: Establishing a Partnership
Wol-Wall started with my presentation, “The 21 st Century of Culture, Creative Community: Theory and
Practice” given to the gu-office (akin to ward or borough offices) of Seongbuk-gu. With the budget secured on
the basis of the presentation, the planning began for a neighborhood festival. On the academic side, I gave a
presentation at Kookmin University, “Creative Community Centered on Kookmin: Interdisciplinary Practice of
Culture,” which led to the contribution from professors and students across different fields including design,
dance, music, theatre, and film. As such, the gu-office provided administrative and financial support, the
University provided programming and operations support, and artists provided the talent, forming a natural
partnership between government, school, and artists. In the process, a lot of effort was put in to getting the trust
and cooperation of the residents. Programming, the naming of the festival, designing the poster, and running the
E-mail address: hkl@kookmin.ac.kr
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