Believing is seeing. To find out what makes Korea an up-and-coming Asian cultural city, Performing Arts Executive Director Louis Yu, along with his team mates from the WKCDA, recently spent a weekend visiting a total of 19 venues in the eight best arts and culture places in Korea. We are privileged to have Louis sharing his photo album and note book on this fruitful trip.

		I really enjoyed the young and cultural atmosphere in this neighbourhood. Daehangno is a vibrant and amazing theatre district with 145 independent theatres. It is a unique model of market-driven theatre district for local young people.
		It is very BIG, but quite remote thus not easy to attract people during day time. Seoul Arts Center is a cultural center consisting of a number of different halls and theatres for many diverse art forms.
		I like the outdoor theatre most which is part of the beautiful landscape. I hope we can build an outdoor stage with this in the future WKCD. Goyang Aram Nuri Arts Center is a regional complex with an opera house, a concert hall, a digital theatre and an outdoor theatre.
		This is a beautiful theatre which is perfect for drama. Namsan Arts Center is a well-designed theatre constructed in the 1960’s. It is run by the government as a producing theatre which means it is not for hire and it has no resident company. The theatre produces 12 programmes a year.
		Opened in 2000, the LG Arts Center is a multi-purpose venue for music, dance, plays, musicals, and other kinds of performances. It is a private arts centre, smartly built with an office building and some shared facilities.
		Show Park / Blue Square is a reference for private pubic partnership (PPP). It is a joint-venture between the government and the private sector with a concert hall and musical theatre to be opened in November. The land was contributed by the government, who also builds and runs one commercial theatre for musicals and pop music concerts. Koreans really love musicals.
		D-Cube City has just opened in August and it is a commercial complex with a park, hotel, shopping mall and office building. The theatre will open with a six-month run of the Korean version of Mama Mia.
		Very clever and cool! Platoon Kunsthalle is a contemporary art space built with 28 containers as an icon of a flexible architecture in a globalized culture. The stacked containers form a unique construction that can be rebuilt anywhere, anytime. Its programmatic orientation towards cultural movements beneath the radar creates a dynamic space where new ideas are born and presented.