K-Arts vows to achieve global prestige

Korea National University of Arts (K-Arts) President Kim Bong-ryol speaks during a press conference marking the school’s 25th anniversary at Dalgaebi, a restaurant in central Seoul, Tuesday. / Courtesy of K-Arts

The president of Korea National University of Arts (K-Arts) vowed to achieve global prestige, marking the school’s 25th anniversary, Tuesday.

“I will pour in all efforts for K-Arts to stand as a globally prestigious art school, by cultivating talented artists who will lead arts in the future, by providing the necessary systematic, material and human resources,” President Kim Bong-ryol said in a press conference at Dalgaebi, a restaurant in central Seoul.

K-Arts ranked 46th in the performing arts category in the 2016 QS World University Rankings.

Kim pledged to expand student and faculty exchange programs with major art schools abroad. Currently it has programs with 118 schools based in 38 countries.

The president added the school will expand its China-bound project, which sends graduates to culture and arts organizations and institutions in China.

K-Arts has cultivated 295 artists in Asia through its Art Major Asian Scholarship (AMA) and Art Major Faculty Exploring K-Arts (AMFEK) program.

The school’s alumni have achieved first place in international competitions 973 times as of September.

K-Arts has produced names such as ballerina Park Sae-eun, who became the first South Korean woman to join the Paris Opera Ballet in 2011, and violinist Lim Ji-young, winner of the first prize in the 2015 Queen Elisabeth Competition in Brussels.

K-Arts plans to establish to more colleges in addition to the existing six _ one each in integrated and popular art. The school is also undergoing procedures to expand its campus.