WITH the rise of tourism between the Philippines and Korea, cultural exchange initiatives have also grown in number. One of these initiatives involves the Federation of Artistic and Cultural Organization (Faco) from Daegu, Korea, who has made its advocacy the promotion of cultural exchange between Korea and the Philippines through the performing arts.
“Daegu is a city with the perfect mix of traditional culture and contemporary charm,” said Jereza Neri, president of the Philippine International Interchange Association (Pinia), who added that Daegu was a lot like Cebu in that sense.
“Koreans love Cebu,” said Rayu Changwo, the Korean director of Pinia, who mentioned that the whole initiative was to promote culture and tourism as well as further strengthen ties with the Philippines.
“Last year, the Bacolod MassKara Festival team participated in our festival and actually won second place in the whole festival,” said Kim Jongsung, president of Faco, who added that the group flew in performers from Bacolod to Daegu to showcase their mask dance in the 2019 Daegu Colorful Festival. The Daegu Colorful Festival is the biggest in the city, with over 200 performers each year.
Faco is looking to connect with more local cultural performance groups to invite to Daegu for their upcoming festivals. They want to provide opportunities for Koreans and Filipinos to share their cultural and artistic skill-sets.
“We want to create a good cultural festival with Cebu—especially because now there are direct flights from Cebu to Daegu,” said Kim. “I want to invite Cebuano artists to Daegu City and Daegu artists to Cebu City. Our contract with Pinia is that for every cultural group we connect with, I will give my full support.” (TLN)