Museums, galleries to release smartphone apps

Cultural institutions in the country are fully committed to embracing the smartphone revolution as the future of information communication, according to the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism on Tuesday.
A recent survey conducted by the ministry predicted, among other major “cultural trends” of 2011, job creation in the arts sector, projects aimed at discovering new entertainment figure heads for the Korean Wave currently on the rebound, further support for multi-cultural families, the government’s continued push to reclaim looted artifacts, and the rise in popularity of e-books.
This year saw smartphones and tablet PCs flying off store shelves, sparking a mad dash rush for all industry sectors scrambling to hop on the bandwagon.
Museums and art galleries around Seoul are in the midst of developing applications for smart phones that run on both Android and Apple’s OS 4.2 platforms, the ministry said in the news release.
The National Museum of Korea is slated to release its Android app next year in October while private art exhibition halls such as Savina Museum of Contemporary Art, Daelim Contemporary Art Museum, Total Museum of Contemporary Art, Koreana Museum of Contemporary Art, and The Museum of Photography, Seoul, will also provide iPhone applications sometime next year.
Works exhibited at museums and art galleries will all be tagged with QR codes which visitors can utilize through their smart phones to listen to or read detailed descriptions of the works.
If alternative energy has been earmarked as the next growth engine to create further job opportunities, the culture ministry believes the arts sector is another which will continue to expand and provide employment as it has been in recent years.
Teaching positions at primary, middle, and high school levels in traditional folk music, dance, theater, film, comics/animation, crafts, photography, and design along with curator positions for museums, art galleries, and historical landmarks have been increasing each year according to the ministry.
To further promote the arts sector as a viable industry for job seekers, the government plans to expand its promotion through job fairs, public forums, and employment guide books.
On the entertainment front, high profile co-productions in film and music have sparked a comeback for the waning “Hallyu,” or Korean Wave, at the start of 2010.
Co-produced films such as the Hollywood/Chungmuro actioner “Warrior’s Way,” the Korea-Japan remake of “Ghost,” and the Korea/Japan/Thailand anthology film “Camellia,” will continue to be developed in the future.
The Korea Creative Contents Agency will begin funding what they call “one-stop support” infrastructure for film productions aimed at overseas markets under the banner “Global Frontier Project.”
The support program will provide funding for pre-production, production, post-production, and marketing costs on projects the KOCCA determines have the highest potential for international sale.
Another agenda high on the list of priorities for the government is the welfare of multi-cultural families.
The number of children born to Korean nationals and foreign spouses saw a four-fold increase since 2006.
With the rapid rise in the number of international marriages, the government will continue its support for multi-cultural families next year through a range of events.
The Center for Multi-cultural Korea will organize language and children’s choral competitions while conglomerates such as the Samsung Group are establishing a financial support program for low income families.
Article via  Koreaherald