On Duty in Osaka

Meet a School of Drama Student Intern at the Korean Cultural Center in Japan

I am Han Seonmin, a student majoring in Arts Management at the School of Drama, currently serving at the Korean Cultural Center in Osaka as part of my placement.

The Korean Cultural Center Osaka organizes a wide range of cultural and artistic programs, including exhibitions and performances, to introduce Korean culture to local audiences. Within this context, I have been responsible for supporting the institution’s outreach efforts, particularly through social media promotion and the production of branded goods that reflect the Center’s identity.

Recently, I worked on promoting the exhibition Touring K-Arts: Minhwa, Joseon’s Pop Art. To effectively communicate the exhibition theme – highlighting the “pop” elements found in the interplay between traditional and contemporary Minhwa (Korean folk painting) – I planned, produced, and published a series of promotional contents across social media platforms. Following the campaign, I conducted a basic analysis of audience engagement and reach. In parallel, I designed interactive online events, such as quizzes, to help visitors better understand the symbolic meanings embedded in minhwa imagery.

During the exhibition period, I was also responsible for on-site documentation. I recorded key moments including the opening ceremony and associated workshops. To capture the atmosphere more vividly and in a format familiar to local audiences, I produced short-form video content in a “Setlog”-style vlog format, which is currently popular in Japan.

Through this experience, I observed a notable shift in visitor engagement – especially in those who initially visited out of a general interest in fine art rather than a specific interest in Korean culture. Over time, their curiosity expanded toward Korean cultural contexts more broadly. This led me to reconsider the role of overseas cultural promotion. Rather than a one-directional introduction of culture, it functions as a dynamic and creative process—one that unfolds at the intersection between what is presented and what the local audience is already inclined to explore.