The UAE Ministry of Culture and Youth, in cooperation with the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism of South Korea, will organise several cultural activities as part of the ‘Emirati-Korean Festival,’ which will take place from 31st March to 2nd April, 2021.
The festival will be held under the theme, “Converging Cultures” underscoring the profound cultural ties between the two countries.
Its agenda includes a variety of cultural events and programmes that will take place via video conferencing, under the patronage of the Ministry of Culture and Youth and the Korean Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, organised jointly by the Korean Creative Content Agency (KOCCA), and the Korea Foundation for International Culture Exchange (KOFICE).
In November 2019, HE Noura bint Mohammed Al Kaabi, Minister of Culture and Youth, met with Hwang Hee, Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism of South Korea, during the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) Forum of Ministers of Culture, where they signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) naming 2020 the “Year of Emirati-Korean Dialogue,” to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the establishment of the diplomatic relations between the two friendly countries.
Several joint cultural activities have organised, including performances by “Ak Dan Gwang Chil” and the “Al Burda Exhibition,” a virtual Islamic art exhibition. The first discussion session on Korean and Emirati content creation was also held. However, several other events were postponed due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, and it was agreed to extend the Year of Emirati-Korean Dialogue to 2021.
The festival’s activities will include several special events aimed at promoting Korean content creation in the UAE, as well as a webinar held from 31st March and 1st April, under the theme, “Strategies for Entering Middle Eastern Markets,” with the participation of 24 speakers from the UAE and 28 from Korean companies specialising in novels, comics and games.
The three-day event will run entirely online and consist of two parts: The K-Content Festival, which aims to match buyers from the UAE with different Korean cultural content creators and the K-pop Festival, which will be an online concert.
A K-Content Festival, which takes place on March 31 and April 1, features Korean companies in the gaming, comics, VR and AR content sectors participating in virtual business meetings and consultations. It’s only open to registered businesses.
However, the K-pop concert will be open to all. The event will feature K-pop acts such as NCT Dream, Mamamoo, Astro, Big, The Boyz and Aespa, as well as Emirati opera singer Fatima Al Hashmi, who will perform on a virtual stage. The gig can be streamed from the Korean Culture Centre’s YouTube page on Friday, April 2 at 7pm.
