Spotlight Korea: Exploring Korean Music & Dance, Application Guideline for K-12 NYC Public Schools

September 2012 to June 2013

Korean Cultural Service New York

1. Why Spotlight Korea?

With the world at our fingertips, it is important for our students who are the future leaders of our global society to be given opportunities to explore different cultures. Providing educational programs that introduce different cultures is especially important for New York City students since fellow classmates come from diverse cultural backgrounds.

Representing one of the world’s colorful cultures, the Spotlight Korea program is designed to engage and raise awareness about interesting cultural facts about Korea to local public schools specifically through the medium of music and dance workshops. By participating in a Korean culture course or engaging in extracurricular programs, students will have the opportunity to interact with teaching artists as they learn about Korean folklore music (samulnori, gayaguem,etc.) or traditional dances (buchaechum, sogochum, etc). These experiences will allow students to gain an in-depth understanding and acquire new knowledge and experiences about one of the world’s vibrant cultures.

Spotlight Korea is not only an educational program that begins to allow students to understand how diverse, but connected they are to one another, but it will also enable them to generate new points of views.

2. What is Spotlight Korea?

Spotlight Korea is an educational program which sends one to four Korean traditional dancers or musicians to K-12 New York City public schools as teaching artists* during the period of September 2012 to June 2013. 

Teaching artists will demonstrate examples of either musical or dance performances for the students. For example, teaching artists for Korean dance will show fan dances, small drum dances, and other traditional dances to the students while teaching artists for Korean music will showcase Korean drumming and play traditional string instruments. Both teaching artists for dance and music will teach students basic dance and music steps (such as arm and leg movements along with keeping in rhythm to traditional beats) as a way of understanding the influences of Korean history and cultural that take root within its dance and music.

* What is a teaching artist? A teaching artist, or "artist-teacher" is first and foremost an artist or performer, but one who teaches and integrates his/her art form into arts and non-arts curricula.

3. How Does Spotlight Korea Work?

Honorariums and transportation costs will be fully covered by the Korean Cultural Service NY. Eligible teaching artists of either music or dance genres will coordinate each class and/or workshop session. Teaching artists were carefully screened and selected by the Korean Cultural Service NY via a strict application process.

Spotlight Korea expects to hold two programs (see below for details). Briefly, Program A is a program structured for public schools with little to no exposure of Korean culture and Program B is more suitable for schools with prior or greater exposure to Korean culture.

• Program A: Assembly Program
• A 45-50 min. long program on Korean traditional music or dance (such as Korean drumming, fan dance, or others) in an auditorium setting by small ensembles (2-4 performers). There will be a lecture demonstration by teaching artists and an opportunity for hands-on participation with some of the students.
• Plan B: Residency
• A 6-10 week long residency program on Korean traditional music or dance which can lead to a performance by the students.

At the completion of the Spotlight Korea program each school year, the Korean Cultural Service NY requires the participating schools to fulfill the following: 1) A final performance or presentation by the class participants reflective of what they have learned during the program, 2) Completion of an evaluation form by the school regarding the program, and 3) Related media (photos and videos) that the school has taken either during the duration of the program and/or at the final performance.

4. How to apply

All correspondence and application forms should be addressed to

ATTN: SPOTLIGHT KOREA APPLICATION
Korean Cultural Service New York
460 Park Avenue 6th Floors, New York, NY 10022
Phone: (212) 759 9550 x201
Fax: (212) 688 8640
Email: edu@koreanculture.org

After reviewing the applications, we will notify the selected school individually via telephone or email. 

All information contained in this document was correct at the time of publication. However, the Korean Cultural Service NY reserves the right to make changes if circumstances dictate otherwise.