I visited to the Culture Creative Convergence Center that was opened recently!

The Culture Creative Convergence Center  is one of the four main bases of Culture Creative Convergence Cluster that the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism is opening in order to develop the convergence content and creative economy. This place was built as a cooperation of the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and CJ E&M (entertainment and media contents focused subsidiary of CJ) to become the next generation hub of the Korean Wave.

Photo : Korea Joongang Daily

The Culture Creative Convergence Center is a place  free-of-charge, high-tech facilities and trendy workplace for amateur content creators.

It allows the creators to commercialize their ideas, and it gives them a chance to export them also to the global market. In other words, it gives an opportunity for the contents creators to make their own contents, and after this the Center connects them with the producers and investors.

I will now introduce the Culture Creative Convergence Center which is located in the first and second floor of the CJ E&M Sangamdong Center.

On the first floor there is the Media Library that has a collection of books and digital contents related to the cultural contents. It is possible to find and read information by using the tablet PCs and touch screens available. It is planned that in the future the creative contents made in the center will be added into the database and it will become a professional archive that contains all the convergence contents. It is possible to watch the contents made by the new creators from the TVs in the Media Library.

Photo : Culture Creative Convergence Center home page

Next to the Media Library there is the Creative Lounge. It is a place where the contents creators can relax and meet professional mentors and share ideas with them.

There is also the Talent Studio. It can be regarded as the most important place, where the creators’ ideas come to life to create next future convergence contents.

On the second floor there is the Motion studio that is equipped with facilities and equipment that enable the contents creators to make diverse fusion contents. It is possible to make animation as the Studio is connected to the photograph and video recording equipment. Also, it is possible to change motion to digital form and make new contents. At the time of my visit, there was a work in progress that was about making ballet motion into animation characters, which would then made into an educational book for children.

In the Screening Lab the images of foreign convergence contents are being showed, and convergence contents where the stage and image effect meet are put on display. It is planned that contents for experience will be presented in the future.

There are Music, Sound and Craft Labs as well, but the most noticeable was the Sound Lab. The most important place for the artists is the practice room. It is possible for the artists to personally play music and do recording and audio dubbing in the Sound Lab, and there are also instruments available for use.

Photo : Culture Creative Convergence Center home page

The Story Lab is a place where video contents can be edited, and so it is very important to artists that want to film movies and drama, and then edit it themselves.

I am looking forward to see the activity of the new artists and the new fusion and complex cultural contents that will be created in this place that is made so that the virtuous ecosystem for the convergence cultural contents industry can be built in the future.

This is the end of the introduction to the first step of the ‘Culture Creative Convergence Valley’ which is the Culture Creative Convergence Center. There are still three steps left and they are as following: the second step is Culture Creation Venture Complex, the third step is Culture Creation Academy and the fourth step is K-Culture Valley. I think that the Korean creative economy is very exciting, and I hope that you will also keep up your interest up and follow the process of developing these new and exciting ventures!

By Choi Yoo Kyung and Nora Maaniemi for the Korea Blog, original words in Korean available here.