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| French artist Herve Tullet poses at a newly-opened care and art education facility "1101 Museum" in Seoul Arts Center, Tuesday. Yonhap |
Art centers launch kids programs to help parents enjoy exhibitions
By Park Ji-won
More and more art centers are coming up with new programs aimed at toddlers to bring in more "family" customers and foster potential future customers.
The toddlers programs have dual goals ― while centers are hoping to attract young art-loving parents, they also aim to infuse a sense of the arts in "future clients" from early childhood.
The Seoul Arts Center, one of the largest art complexes in the nation, announced Tuesday it has started operating a care and art education facility for children under seven, a new attempt to invite more young customers and their families.
The facility named "1101 Museum" was opened Jan. 11 where those children can participate in various art-making programs to help their parents feel free and stay focused on the performances and exhibitions they enjoy. Programs vary from art-making to a small play.
The family members also can join some programs with their children in the facility. The art center teamed with Artcenter IDA and French artist Herve Tullet to create the program and they plan to operate it for six months.
It costs 20,000 won ($17.3) for children aged between 13 months and seven to spend two hours there and 10,000 won for children under 13 months while costing 3,000 won for caretakers. If a child wants to participate in an art-making class, there is an additional fee.
"Moms have the hardest time until their babies turn 36 months old…. So we thought that it would be good for them to liberate themselves from childcare duty and enjoy our performance and exhibitions without disruption," Seoul Arts Center's President and CEO Yoo In-taek told reporters during a press conference at the art complex, Tuesday.
"I organized the programs in line with my project called The Ideal Exhibition as it matches with its general concept that children all over the world can participate in art-making projects in a space designed for them and have fun there," Tullet said during the conference.
Stressing that children should have their own space to play, the French artist said that "It is an experimental space for realizing my art work for (children's) education."
The center said that the efforts are aimed to secure potential customers for the future.
"We aimed to foster those young customers from their early life stages so that they can enjoy art performances and exhibitions here when they become grown-ups in the future," Kim Young-min, a manager of Seoul Arts Center's customer service department, said.
It is not the first time for an art complex to take such initiatives to attract more young customers, or infants and toddlers, to their facilities.
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| A scene from a play "Children from sky and earth" Courtesy of The National Theater Company of Korea |
The National Theater Company of Korea ran two plays in July for three years in July which were created for children aged under three.
The theater produced "Song and Matter" recommended for children aged one to three, and "Children from Sky and Earth" designed for children aged between 6 and 18 months old.
The Sejong Center for the Performing Arts also plans to focus on toddlers aged under three as their "target customers," performing the play "Five, One," which is open to children aged under two and their caregivers.
"With its record-low birthrate, people with children tend to put more energy and money into them. More art complexes are expected to increase such exhibitions and performances to target those family customers," a source familiar with the matter said.
