The 1st Gwangju International Performing Arts Festival (GIPAF) opened at Gwangju Culture and Art Center on August 17, 2006. The festival continues at the art center and throughout the whole Gwangju city area until September 28. Ten nations are participating in the festival: Korea, Japan, Russia, Armenia, Germany, Taiwan, Bulgaria, Mexico, Ecuador and Kazakhstan. The festival is composed of three sections: The First section, “Haemaji madang” (Welcoming the Sun) of the performing arts, the Second, “Dalmaji Madang” (Welcoming the moon) of outdoor performance, and the Third, “Byoulmaji Madang” (Welcoming the stars) of musical concert, vocal music and ballet. Gwangju citizens have a chance to witness world-class artists live throughout the festival.
    However, the 1st Gwangju International Performing Arts Festival has received much criticism for being an unsophisticated, ill-prepared and non-economic event. Is there any way to improve the festival? Chonnam Tribune just checked whether the GIPAF is likely to last for a long time into the future.

Insufficient preparation
    The GIPAF homepage (www.2006ssam.com) could not be found on any search engines until the opening ceremony. Therefore, Gwangju citizens did not have enough advance information about the event. Even after its set up, the homepage wasn’t of any use to foreigners because it had no English version.

Deficient and ineffective publicity
    This was the first time the festival was held. The Organizing Committee had planned to establish it as world-class international event like the Gwangju Biennale. The committee publicized the festival using posters, placards and through local broadcasting companies such as Gwnagju KBC and MBC. They attempted to inform the entire country (including Seoul and other regions). However, this publicity fell far short of what is needed to advertise an event on an international scale and as a result the GIPAF turned into a local event in which a small number of artists and people participated.

Low budget
    The original budget was set at 15 hundred million won: Corporation sponsorship of 7 hundred million won, 5 hundred million won form the Culture Hub City Promotion and Planning Group and 3 hundred million won from Gwangju City. However, the Gwangju City assembly cut the budget by 5 hundred million won. They worried that the festival had not been planned properly due to insufficient time and that the caliber of some of the participating artists wasn’t of high enough standard. Accordingly, the Organizing Committee had a budget 7 hundred million won to work with. This included corporation sponsorship and admission fee earnings.

    As just mentioned above, insufficient preparation, unsatisfactory and ineffective publicity and a low budget will probably result in the inaugural GIPAF being severely criticized. Can it withstand such potential criticism to survive for a second chance?
    The GIPAF is an opportunity that allows Gwangju citizens the chance to enjoy world-class art performances. If the festival creates a favorable impression the people of Gwangju may take it to heart, and as a result may have more interest in future cultural events in the city. If you consider yourself an art-loving person, you should think about what happened to the Gwangju International Film Festival (GIFF). The GIFF has been cancelled as it lacked specific characteristics and originality as an international film festival like those of Jeonju and Busan. To improve the situation for the citizens of Gwangju the first GIPAF, strove to be better.