Korean Cultural Center New York presents "Connecting with Korea through the Traditional Arts," a Talk Performance Series with Expert Commentary

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May 26, 2020, 09:00 ET

NEW YORK, May 26, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Korean Cultural Center New York (KCCNY), a branch of the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism (MCST) of the Republic of Korea, is pleased to announce the launch of "Connecting with Korea through the Traditional Arts," an online performance and talk program, to offer audiences the opportunity to stay connected and find a source of comfort and togetherness through cultural arts of the highest caliber. The first performance of the series will premiere with live chat on Friday, May 29th at 10:30 ET on the KCCNY's Youtube channel, then will be available for view online.

"Connecting with Korea through the Traditional Arts" is a limited special series featuring online screenings of performances by the National Gugak Center and its partner constituents along with an insightful introductory commentary on the musical background and historical context of the performances with key points of interest to note by an expert in Korean arts and culture.

For May, in celebration of Asian Pacific American Heritage Month, the performance kicks off with the Ganggangsullae, a uniquely Korean dance and ritual, and a cultural heritage that has been designated by UNESCO in 2009 to be inscribed on the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. It was recognized as a work of community-based cultural art that sublimates dance and folk culture. Through play, the society was able to further cultivate community cohesion and strengthen intercommunication.

The ganggangsullae performance talk will be hosted by Dr. Hilary Vanessa Finchum-Sung, a specialist in Korean music theory and performance practice. An ethnomusicologist by trade, Dr. Finchum-Sung spent a decade in Korea where she was the first and only non-Korean to have served as faculty in a Department of Korean Music at Seoul National University. She is currently the Executive Director of the Association for Asian Studies and a Nam Center for Korean Studies Associate at the University of Michigan.

This launch is presented as a part of the KCCNY's "Experience Korean Cultural Center Online" initiative, a comprehensive online platform that brings together world-class performances and diverse cultural contents from the KCCNY and from various branches of the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism. In addition, the section will include access to shared contents from our locally based partner organizations and institutions.

This week's program will specially be launching at 10:30 am on Friday, May 29th, with Dr. Finchum Sung and the KCCNY team on live chat for comments and to answer questions about the performance. The full video will be available to view on our Youtube page after the premiere.

"Connecting with Korea through the Traditional Art" series and the full virtual platform is on view www.koreanculture.org/kccny-online and through social media channels (Facebook, Instagram).

For press inquiries, contact Mickey Hyun
[email protected], 212-759-9550 (ext. 212)

SOURCE Korean Cultural Center New York