[Arirang Culture Connect: Seoul]

As cultural industries emerge as a global growth engine and a key agenda for international cooperation, a growing consensus is taking shape: policy discussions alone are not enough to ensure long-term sustainability. For cultural industries to function as future-oriented strategic sectors, they must be supported by field-based cultural leadership capable of translating cultural values into practice.

The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism of Korea and the Korea Foundation for International Cultural Exchange held the Forum on the Future of Cultural Industries and International Exchange on October 27 last year at the Modu Art Theater in Seodaemun-gu, Seoul, on the occasion of the APEC meetings.

This perspective was strongly echoed at the Forum on the Future of Cultural Industries and International Exchange held in Seoul. Participants emphasized that cultural industries today extend far beyond content production, linking diplomacy, technology, youth employment, and regional development. In this context, the importance of people-centered and practice-oriented approaches has become increasingly clear.

It is precisely at this intersection that the work of Culture Masters draws attention.

Bridging Cultural Values and Industry Through Practice

Culture Masters is a platform dedicated to connecting intangible cultural heritage with contemporary cultural industries, strengthening the professional and international capacity of cultural practitioners, and fostering sustainable cultural ecosystems.

Rather than focusing solely on education or networking, Culture Masters builds structures that link people, content, policy, and industry—the very spaces where cultural industries actually operate. This approach reflects a broader understanding of sustainability: culture must not only be preserved, but activated through people, systems, and international collaboration.

World Intangible Heritage Network (WIN):

Designing a Global Platform Under Preparation

One of the key initiatives currently under preparation by Culture Masters is the World Intangible Heritage Network (WIN).

WIN is being developed as a global platform that brings together bearers of intangible heritage, researchers, cultural planners, and policy experts. Rather than presenting itself as a completed event, WIN is conceived as an evolving framework for international cooperation.

At its core, the initiative seeks to reframe intangible heritage not merely as something to be preserved, but as a cultural industry asset and a driver of regional development in contemporary society. By sharing field experiences and policy challenges across regions, WIN aims to lay the groundwork for future collaborative projects and sustainable international networks.

With a particular focus on gender, youth, and local communities, the initiative explores how intangible heritage can generate both social value and economic potential—a direction increasingly aligned with global discussions on cultural sustainability.

Arirang Master Award:

Recognizing Cultural Leadership

Another key program associated with Culture Masters is the Arirang Master Award.

This international award highlights individuals who have demonstrated meaningful contributions to the transmission, innovation, and social relevance of intangible cultural heritage. Unlike traditional heritage awards that emphasize preservation alone, it focuses on how heritage practitioners contribute to contemporary society and future cultural ecosystems.

By raising international visibility for cultural leaders, the award reinforces a central principle of sustainability: people matter as much as policies.

Expanding Global Discourse Through Cultural Media

Sustainability in cultural industries also depends on documentation and global knowledge-sharing. In this regard, Arirang Culture Connect plays a critical role.

As a global news platform specializing in intangible cultural heritage, Arirang Culture Connect documents cultural policies, international cooperation, and voices from the field. Its work contributes to positioning cultural industries not as short-term trends, but as part of a shared global knowledge ecosystem.

Through collaboration with such media platforms, Culture Masters strengthens the circulation of ideas between policy discourse and field-based practice, reinforcing long-term relevance and visibility.

From Discourse to Structure

Key messages raised at recent international forums—such as
“Cultural industries gain real competitiveness when combined with technology,” and
“Sustainability is impossible without civil and private participation”—
closely align with the direction Culture Masters has been pursuing.

The integration of tradition and modernity, intangible-heritage-based cultural content planning, international cultural networking, and the cultivation of future cultural leaders are no longer abstract goals. They are being designed, tested, and prepared through concrete initiatives such as WIN, the Arirang Master International Award, and Arirang Culture Connect.

As culture increasingly functions as a global growth engine, the case of Culture Masters demonstrates that sustainable cultural industries are built not only through discourse, but through field-based leadership that turns vision into structure.