ASEF commissions guides on culture and sustainability

Creative Responses to Sustainability (Korea Guide) will map cultural initiatives across Korea engaging with social and environmental issues. Commissioned by the Asia-Europe Foundation (ASEF) and authored by Yasmine OSTENDORF, the initiator of the EU funded network Green Art Lab Alliance (GALA), this guide will feature a directory of the 20 most pioneering and significant cultural organisations in Korea contributing to social and environmental change through their artistic practice.

The topic of sustainability has become a growing focus for artists and cultural organisations as they increasingly engage their creative practice with social and environmental issues. Creative Responses to Sustainability (Korea Guide) is meant to provide a tool for practitioners and policymakers to assess the situation of these organisations in Korea and their needs. In a more global context, the guide will also address the challenges of incorporating culture in sustainability at a local/city level.

The Creative Responses to Sustainability (Korea Guide) will be presented at the 8^th ASEF Public Forum on Creative Cities in Asia and Europe – Cities: Living Labs for Culture?, to be held in Gwangju on 24 November 2015. This Forum is organised by ASEF in partnership with Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, the Republic of Korea, Gwangju Metropolitan Government and the Asia Culture Forum.

Creative Responses to Sustainability (Korea Guide) is part of a new series of guides looking at creative responses to sustainability in different countries in Asia. The Singapore Guide is also in preparation and will be released soon. Research for the Korea and Singapore Guides is supported by the Mondriaan Fund. Other country guides will follow in 2016. These new guides build on the discussions at the GALA / Green Art Lab Alliance and ASEF’s engagement with the topic of artists and climate change in global dialogues around environmental sustainability through its Connect2Culture programme (2008-2011). All the guides will be available for free download on culture360.asef.org and on ASEF's website asef.org.

The guides will also be widely shared at ArtCop21, a city-wide climate festival in Paris during the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Paris (30 November – 11 December 2015). ArtCOP21 is initiated and organised by COAL (Coalition for Art and Sustainable Development) and Cape Farewell. As part of this massive cultural and art programme, a Professional Workshop will be organised in Paris on 3-4 December 2015 with the facilitation and support of Julie's Bicycle, On the Move, International Federation of Arts Councils and Arts Agencies (IFACCA), Imagine2020, International Network for Contemporary Performing Arts (IETM), ASEF, European Cultural Foundation and French Consulate in Wuhan-China/Institut Français.