Seongnam Arts Center
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| Address | 808, Seongnam-daero, Bundang-gu Seongnam-si, Gyeonggi South Korea |
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| http://www.snart.or.kr | |
Seongnam Arts Center(성남아트센터) is a multipurpose performing center of culture and art in Yatab-dong, Bundang-gu, Gyeonggi-do. It broke ground in 2000 six years after the basic plan and open contest for design, and officially opened on 14 October 2005. Facilities at Seongnam Arts Center include Opera House, Concert Hall, Ensemble Theater, Gallery, Media Center, which are all under the operation and supervision by Seongnam Cultural Foundation established in 2004. Seongnam Cultural Foundation also operates Seongnam Civic Center, which is a cultural complex in Sujeong-gu, Jungwon-gu, Ceatral Park Open Air Theater adored by the people as venue for hosting park concerts and Book Theme Park in Yuldong Park, a place using books as a channel of cultural communication.
history
Seongnam Arts Center(성남아트센터) is operated by Seongnam Cultural Foundation, which is a non-profit organization dedicated to identifying citizens keen to have access to different forms of culture and art and supporting their activities. The Center's model of performing its role as a multipurpose culture and arts center for performances and exhibitions and of Seongnam Cultural Foundation's role primarily focusing on advancing public values is the first of its kind in Korea. Ever since its grand opening, Seongnam Arts Center has kept itself updated on the latest trend of global culture and art while stayed in tune with the local community by trying to cater to its specific needs for culture and art. Its landmark performances include such historical ones as Gilbert Kaplan, who is a specialist on Gustav Mahler's symphony, baritone Matthias Goerne, mezzo soprano Anne Sofie von Otter, Ton Koopman who is the master of authentic music, pianist Arcadi Volodos, William Forsythe, the master of contemporary dance all of whom staged their first performance in Korea at Seongnam Arts Center. The Center also runs programs produced in-house, which is an unusually pioneering initiative in a relatively young culture and art center, and produced an original musical using the historical Namhansanseong as the motif. The musical has become an acclaimed cultural contents representing Seongnam.
On the occasion of its fifth anniversary, Seongnam Arts Center opened Cube Art Gallery, a hall for cultural lectures and classes(Media Hall), Cube Plaza, a cultural complex that also includes convenience facilities. In December 2012, it opened Seongnam Media Center where citizens can learn media technologies and even produce contents by themselves. The variety of its facilities and rich programs have ever since made it a place for residents in the local community to build cultural affinity and enjoy higher quality of life.
Seongnam Cultural Foundation spearheads a broad range of policies and cultural projects that include academy offering specialized education programs on culture, music and art for all ages, <Eowoolrio Orchestra>, which is the El Sistema project in Seongnam, Saranbang Culture Club dedicated to searching local community culture and art clubs and building network for mutual exchanges and cooperation. With these projects and programs aimed at promoting culture and art in people's daily lives, Seongnam Cultural Foundation has aspirations to give creative energy to the people and make it a solid foundation to make the community and the whole city more prosperous. Initiated under the motto of 'Citizens Build a City', Sarangbang Culture Club has been a staunch advocate of culture and art programs that engage citizens. 'Cultural Contribution Project' for serving the local community through culture and art under Seongnam city's slogan 'Seongnam Where Citizens are Happy, Seongnam Where Citizens are Owners' and 'Sarangbang Club Festival' where all citizens can join and enjoy together are just a few number of illustrious activities undertaken by Club. Sarangbang Culture Club is a leading civic culture model that earned recognition by winning Prime Minister's Award at 2010 Exemplary Case of Public-Private Cooperation Award, '2011 Top Ten Culture and Art Trend' designed by Ministry of Culture, Sports & Tourism and Grand Prize at 2012 Local & Traditional Culture Brand Award hosted by Ministry of Culture, Sports & Tourism.
To date, Seongnam Arts Center attracted more than 4.2 million visitors to its performances and exhibitions and close to 7.15 million, which is seven times the population of Seongnam City, when including visitors to Seongnam Civic Center, Book Theme Park and other facilities operated by Seongnam Cultural Foundation(as of late March 2013).
Facilities
The three-story, 1854-seat Opera House armed with state-of-the-art facilities is a multi-purpose performance hall covering all genres of performing arts. It is a fully equipped hall with orchestra pit, revolving stage, elevation stage and extra stage that makes it a pleasant place to stage big orchestra performances, operas, ballets, musicals and concerts.
Concert Hall, is a two-story, 994-seat acoustic hall with a choir spot. Built to stage music performances, its high-quality sound system makes it a perfect place for classical music. Shaped like a grand piano when viewed from above, Concert Hall is designed into an arena-type stage without a stage curtain so that audience can enjoy the music wherever they're seated. This concert-exclusive hall is designed with a 1.8 second reverberation echo.
Ensemble Theater is the smallest multi-purpose hall among the three theaters in Seongnam Arts Center. The 378-seat hall holds a wide variety of performances including plays, recitals and experimental performances. T-shaped stage setting directed to the seats, front stage, revolving devices in the main stage and system stimulating audience's imagination make Ensemble Theater a great place for audience-friendly performances that keep the stage and audience on the same wavelength.
Main Gallery located on the basement floor of Opera House exhibits paintings, sculptures, photos, craftwork and calligraphies. There are three exhibition halls in the Main Gallery, which all come with state-of-the-art thermo-hygrostat and lighting system.
Cube Gallery is a 759㎡ gallery located on the second floor of Cube Plaza. Its feature exhibitions hardly found in other arts centers including <England's Contemporary Painting - Winners of John Moore Award>, which was the special exhibition to commemorate opening of Cube Gallery, offer visitors with a glimpse to higher level of exhibitions and culture.
Media Hall located on the third floor of Cube Plaza is a 100-seat theater-type multi-media hall equipped with the most advanced AV system, Blu-ray player, full HD resolution projector, high-end amplifiers and speakers, dolby & DTS surround system and a full-scale screen to provide audience with the most real experience. It serves multi-purposes as a venue for playing movies, small concerts and presentations by Sarangbang Culture Club, etc.
Seongnam Media Center opened in December 2012 with financial support from the Ministry of Culture, Sports & Tourism, Gyeonggi-do and Seongnam-si. It is currently operated by Seongnam Cultural Foundation. It acts as the center for learning, for developing the skills to read and write in different media formats, communicate via media, understand and communicate with each other and organize and share one's thoughts through the media. It has a studio, lecture room, media library, filming ․ audio ․ lighting ․ editing equipment, etc.
Book Theme Park located in Yuldong Park, Bundang-gu is a unique thematic park free of the traditional concept of existing libraries. An original and a creative place tapping into human's infinite imagination and boosting appetite to read, Book Theme Park has a walk lined up with murals in the form of a maze describing history of books, a meditation place with a book-shaped pond, and a book cafe, which has a multimedia AV room, an archive and event display zone, etc.
Seongnam Civic Center located in Taepyung-dong, Sujung-gu, Seongnam-si, has a two-story 1,012-seat grand theater and a 288-seat Small theater. It not only organizes various events for citizens but also provides artists a stage to perform their shows. It has been under the consigned operation by Seongnam Cultural Foundation since 2005.
Ceatral Park Open Air Theater located inside Central Park in Bundang-gu is where the beautiful nature meets with culture and art. The 480 fixed seats and 6,600㎡ grassy hill accommodate up to 11,000 people. Equipped with highly sophisticated audio and lighting system, Outdoor Theater has been hosting <Park Concert>, an extremely popular free concert covering a wide variety of music genres, every summer since 2012 for citizens.
Residing organizations
Four Seongnam City Performing Art Groups permanently reside in Seongnam Arts Center's concert hall. Seongnam City Performing Art Group started off with Seongnam City Choir founded in 1986 and later expanded to City Girls & Boys Choir, City Symphony Orchestra and City's Korean Traditional Music Orchestra as it is today. They play big roles in spreading a higher level of culture and art experiences to citizens and promote local culture and art.
Transportation
<Subway>
- Exit no. 1 of Imae Subway Station, Bundang Line (10 minutes by foot)
- Transfer from Bokjeong Station, Line No. 8 to Bundang Line and get off at Imae Subway Station, Bundang line
- Transfer from Jeongna Station, New Bundang Line to Bundang Line and get off at Imae Subway Station
<Bus>
- In front of Seongnam Arts Center Metropolitan bus 9408(Youngdeungpo～Gangnam～Bundang), 3330(Anyang～Bundang), 4000(Suwon Bus Terminal ～Aju University ～ Bundang), 9607(Samseong Subway Station, Cheongdam Subway Station, Korea International Trade Association ~ Bundang), 7200(Hanshin University, Youngtong ~ Bundang) City bus 250, 220, 2-1, 51, 33-1, 300, 720, 720-1, 77-1, 116-3, 17, 17-1, 119
- Yatab Subway Station(transfer at exit no. 4)
- Moran Subway Station(transfer at exit no. 7)
- Seohyun Subway Station & in front of AK Plaza (transfer from across AK Plaza)
- Pangyo Subway Station, New Bundang Line (13 minutes from Gangnam Subway Station)
- Imae Village Hanshin APT & in front of AK Plaza(transfer from across Imae Village Hanshin APT)