Five Minutes with TAE Seungjin, CEO of Bucheon Arts Center
Image courtesy of Bucheon Arts Center
Congratulations on the opening of Bucheon Arts Center! We are extremely happy to welcome you into the AAPPAC Family. Tell us a bit more about the new venue and its facilities.
Bucheon Arts Center (BAC) is a performance venue that opened on 19 May this year. It consists of a 1,445-seat concert hall, a 304-seat arts theatre, orchestral rehearsal, individual or group practice rooms, and a small gallery for art exhibitions. The Bucheon Philharmonic Orchestra and the Bucheon Civic Chorale are BAC’s residential organisations.
Bucheon Art Center Concert Hall
Share with us one challenge you faced in opening up a new centre.
Opening a new venue can be fraught with unforeseen challenges, no matter how thoroughly you prepare. In the case of the BAC, even though the opening was prepared with sufficient time in advance, the installation of the pipe organ was delayed far more than expected, and the installation was only completed right before the grand opening.
In addition to this, due to COVID-19 over the last few years, the BAC was opened in a situation where there was a lack of predictive information about visitors, and only now are we planning future marketing plans through the analysis of visitors to the opening commemorative festival.
What are your aspirations for BAC and the people it serves in the next five years?
The entire construction cost of the Bucheon Arts Center, 110 billion KRW (about USD 81,600), was funded by the City of Bucheon. Therefore, the highest priority mission in the operation of the BAC is realising the cultural welfare of Bucheon citizens. First of all, we plan to create a lot of accessible classical music programmes at reasonable prices so that a large number of Bucheon citizens can easily access classical music.
On the other hand, the reputation of the BAC which has been in operation for the past five months since its opening is the best in the country in terms of acoustics of performance venue. Although it is a venue in the metropolitan area, it is evaluated as a performance venue with easy access to public transportation such as the subway. As it is a venue with good acoustics, we intend to support the best performers at home and abroad so that they can make good use of the venue.
Additionally, because of the good acoustics, many performers hope to record their recordings (sound sources) here so we will strengthen cooperation with artists who want to record good sounds.
Tae with Maestro Gidon Kremer during the opening festival 2023
Tell us more about yourself and how you have built your career in the arts.
In 1989, when I graduated from university, I joined Seoul Arts Center (SAC), one of Korea’s leading art centres, and worked there for 32 years until I left the company in 2020. At the Seoul Arts Center, I have experienced not only various arts projects but also the administrative areas necessary for the operation of the institution, from practical work to managers.
What is a little-known fact about the city of Bucheon?
Bucheon is a city located western part of Seoul, the capital of South Korea. It covers an area of about 54 square kilometers and has a population of about 800,000. Founded in 1989, the Bucheon Philharmonic Orchestra is one of Korea’s leading orchestras, and in addition to classical music, it is a culturally diverse city that hosts various cultural events on an international scale, such as the Bucheon International Fantastic Film Festival (BIFAN), the Bucheon International Animation Festival (BIAF), the Bucheon International Comics Festival (BICOF), the Bucheon Bboy International Championships (BBIC) and so on.
Tell us about the most memorable classical concert you’ve attended in the past year.
The Seoul Arts Center, where I used to work, hosts a Symphonic Festival every April with about 20 symphony orchestras from all over the country including several Asian orchestras as well. The festival, which began in 1989 and has been held year after year, is one of Korea’s leading classical music festivals. I participated in the management of the festival many times when I was working at the Seoul Arts Center, and now that I have to run the new Bucheon Arts Center, I have a desire to create a successful classical music festival programme like this.