K-Culture Caravana, a Multi-Genre Project Team Consists of Ten of Young K-Arts Artists, Visits Four Central American Countries

To celebrate 60 years of diplomatic relationship between Korea and Central America, eight special busking concerts were presented in Panama, Costa Rica, El Salvador, and Honduras co-arranged by the K-Arts and Korean Culture and Information Service (KOCIS) both under the Korean Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism. In this series of street performances, K-Culture Caravana, a project team made up of K-Arts' current students and graduates, presented performances ranging from traditional Korean arts such as pansori (traditional lyrical opera) to modern genres such as K-pop music and dance.

The tour was planned to spread the allure of Korean traditional & contemporary arts in Central America where the access to Korean culture is limited. The program, under the concept of "Caravan K-Culture", consists of a tour of street shows by the "KOCIS K-Arts Busking Band (Band of street shows KOCIS – K-Arts)", which tours from Panama, Costa Rica, El Salvador and Honduras, between August 18 and 30.

The members of the team were selected last June through a competition for current students and graduates of the K-Arts, the most prestigious arts education institution in the country. Members include six representatives from the School of Korean Traditional Arts, two from the School of Music, one from the School of Dance, and and one from the School of Drama.  

Korea.net, the multilingual portal of the Korean government, operated by the KOCIS, has broadcasted the presentations live through its YouTube channel (https://www.youtube.com/user/GatewayToKorea), so that any person around the world can enjoy the performances. In addition, the KOCIS will edit a documentary and videos broadcasting the performances in each country, which will be available online and through television channels in October.

In Panama, the performances took place on August 18 and 19 at Parque Urracá and Plaza de la Independencia, in Panama City, while in Costa Rica the presentations were at the main campus of the University of Costa Rica, and at the Multiplaza Shopping Center in San Rafael de Escazú, both in the province of San José, on August 22 and 23, respectively.

In El Salvador, the show were presented on 26 at the Galerías Shopping Center, in San Salvador. Unfortunately the show supposed to be held at the Plaza Salvador del Mundo on 25 August was cancelled due to heavy rain. In Honduras the event took place at the City Mall Shopping Center in San Pedro Sula on August 28 and at the Mall Multiplaza in Tegucigalpa on August 29.

As stated by the KOCIS in a press release, "The hallyu (Korean wave) has had a rapid expansion in Mexico and South America, but in Central America access to Korean culture is still relatively limited" adding that "we hope that This show conveys the national image of Korea and the charm of our culture."