Reorienting Cultural Policy: Arts Industries’ Approach in South Korea

The debate on the industrialization of the arts arose from a need for rationalization strategies in the creative arts field. This article examines South Korea’s industrialization of the arts initiatives and related discourse during 2004–2018. Highlighting the polarized policy development of the creative arts and cultural industries as an obstacle to the growth of arts fields, the study proposes reorienting the cultural policy from simple distributive arts policy and beyond industrial policy that considers arts a subset. An arts industries’ approach is suggested as a more inclusive policy stance that accommodates nonprofit arts fields, entrepreneurial arts businesses, and related industries.