Can we implant an artist community? A reflection on government-led cultural districts in Korea

This paper aims to broaden knowledge on policy governance of cultural districts, particularly those utilizing artist communities for urban revitalization. With the rise of the cultural economy in post-industrial cities in South Korea, cultural strategies have become key components in almost every urban regeneration project. The tactic of encouraging groups of community artists to work and live in distressed neighborhoods has been regarded as a low-budget and easy-to-implement tool for urban revitalization. Over the past few years, however, these strategies have failed to meet expectations and have often resulted in conflicts between artists and the government. To understand the factors behind the strategies' positive and negative consequences, this paper examines three projects with different degrees of government intervention: the Totatoga project in Busan City, the Daein Art Market project in Gwangju City, and the Changdong Art Village project in Changwon City. The analysis focuses on the mode of government intervention in the relationships among the government, artists, intermediary agencies, and local citizens. By putting the mode of government intervention in the context of social relations of related players in the cultural districts, this paper tries to understand how similar policy schemes created different consequences.