This research is a study of the activities of the Gugak Center, a national arts organization that was founded in October 1945 after liberation that carried out full-scale national cultural and artistic activities until the official general meeting in ...
This research is a study of the activities of the Gugak Center, a national arts organization that was founded in October 1945 after liberation that carried out full-scale national cultural and artistic activities until the official general meeting in October 1953. Primary source of this research was the newspaper data published during the relevant period. As for the data on the activities of the Gugak Center, the sources were collected from old newspaper data from the National Library of Korea, newspaper data from the Korean History Database, Naver News Library, and the National Assembly Library. The collected sources were then analysed and organized through additional sources from literature on liberation space magazines, critic’s collections, and records of people related to the Gugak Center. Based on these data, the following conclusions were drawn as a result of examining the activities of the Gugak Center by year and project.
First, the power of the collective practice structure possessed by the Gugak Center was confirmed. The Gugak Center led the liberation period through organizational movements in alliance with major cultural organizations such as the Federation of Korean Cultural Organizations and the Center for the Performing Arts, as well as figures in the literary, theater, and film industries.
Second, the core of the Gugak Center project was to share and cultivate cultural comradery through folk festivals during national holidays under the name of Hyangto Culture and arts project.
Third, the process of appointing the successor for carrying out the traditions and the direction of how national culture and arts should develop were confirmed in the overall project of the Gugak Center. The Gugak Center was the first to create the local arts as a historical and national cultural community and modern music styles such as local folk songs, Korean dramas, and national operas.
Fourth, the Korean traditional music center fully supported the relief project for flood victims and the fund-raising performance for war-affected compatriots and high school students, combined with holiday festivals to create a pan-national festival through nongak and local folk song folk festivals.
Fifth, the Gugak Center secured expansion by establishing organic relationships with contemporary performance groups, including the Joseon Changgeuk Company, the Joseon Classical Music Research Society, Kim Yeon-soo's group, ImBang-ul's group, Women's Korean Traditional Music Club, Yeoseong Guggeuk East Branch, Kim Bong-eop Gathering Group, and Bongsan Talchum Research Association.
Sixth, all projects planned by the Gugak Center, such as the ‘National Nongak Contest’, ‘National Folk Nongak Contest’, Gukgeuksa Special Performances, Changgeuk Festival, Local Folk Song Contest, and National Traditional Music Performances on Holidays, are acknowledged as “grand temples of national arts” and represented as “the great national arts festivals.”
Seventh, based on the results of the Gugye version, the Gugak Center opened up new possibilities for the development of opera through the spread of new folk songs, creative Baebangigut dramatized folk song plays, and folk song gukgeuk.
Eighth, through the internationalization strategy, the Gugak Center continued their work as Cultural Art Movement to expend the development of national operas and female oriented national operas.
Ninth, as a work to recreate tradition, efforts were made to popularize Korean traditional music, including women's Nongak, tightrope walking, Pansori feature films, and comedy, which dominated the cultural scene in the 1960s, and this created the vein of modern national music. It can be considered an important achievement.
Tenth, the Gugak Center tried to preserve the spirit of national arts despite the U.S. military government's ban on outdoor events and various regulations and suppression of theater performances, and this can be said to be an achievement of the national cultural revival and national arts revival movement.
The Korean Traditional Music Center actively engaged in activities to establish national culture and arts amidst the turbulence of modern and contemporary Korean history, including the period of liberation, division, and war through the Japanese colonial period. The main mission of the Gugak Center was to re-establish national culture that had been trampled by Japanese colonial rule, and to promote local culture and arts, which were the source of the nation's collective consciousness formed through long history and tradition.