Gyeonggi Province Cultural Center Faces Controversy Over Favoritism in Selecting National Gugak Orchestra Artistic Director

[Suwon Ilbo=Park No-hun] The Gyeonggi Province Cultural Center has become embroiled in a favoritism controversy in the process of appointing an artistic director for the vacant Gyeonggi Province National Gugak Orchestra. The center appointed a specific individual months in advance but delayed the official appointment citing personal schedule conflicts, and then entered into a separate contract requiring personnel expenses before the official appointment, assigning work duties to the gugak orchestra.

According to the Gyeonggi Province Cultural Center (hereinafter, the center) and local arts figures as of the 31st, the center conducted two separate recruitment campaigns for the artistic director position of the gugak orchestra (hereinafter, orchestra) during the first half of this year. Prominent figures in the gugak music community were known to have applied at the time, but the center concluded with "no suitable candidate" for all applicants. Subsequently, following internal discussions, the center appointed individual A as artistic director of the orchestra, and this news came to be accepted as a fait accompli in the local arts community.

However, no official announcement regarding A's appointment was made, and the center did not make a public announcement either. Instead, rumors circulated that "A would take over the orchestra only at year-end due to personal schedule conflicts." Considering that the previous orchestra artistic director stepped down at the end of last year due to an unpleasant incident, the position had been vacant for nearly a year as of November.

However, it was recently revealed that A had entered into a separate contract requiring personnel expenses and had been commuting to the orchestra for several months, handling work duties.

Since A's arrival, testimonies emerged stating "we decided to go on a one-night, two-day gugak orchestra workshop in Jeju," and "we decided to change the orchestra's name to 'Gyeonggi Sinawi Orchestra.'"

A figure in the local arts community stated, "The position of artistic director, which had been vacant for a long time, was appointed in advance, but the official appointment was delayed until year-end citing personal schedule conflicts. Then, they signed a separate contract and had work duties assigned to them—what is this if not favoritism? It's absurd," the person said.

Responding to this, a center official stated, "Individual A's work in Seoul ends at the end of October, so we planned to make the official appointment effective November 1st. It is not uncommon to appoint someone months after they are internally designated. It often happens when bringing in prominent or busy figures." Regarding the separate contract, the official stated, "We arranged it so work could proceed in phases, and (the personnel expenses involved) cannot be disclosed."