In 2010, we will finally feel the arrival of spring in the air this May when the fresh green shoots of the spring flowers come forth, and with this new growth come the 2,000 distinguished guests, from 190 nations, to Korea for The 2nd World Conference on Arts Education. Now new leaves of hope and the dew that can quench our thirst will be produced on this otherwise barren Earth that is suffering due to the financial crisis and climate change marked by the Earth’s warming.

It has been claimed that the paradigm of civilization is shifting away from the era of hard power, characterized by national prosperity and military power, towards an era of soft power; an era geared towards the arts and culture. However, the world continues to focus on the economy and on military competition to secure the current world hegemony. This is mainly because education, which cultivates artistic imagination and creativity that acts as an engine for soft power, does not boldly cast away the old frames of the industrial age. There is bound to be no room for soft power unless a new educational philosophy, one centered on artistic diversity and mutually beneficial relationships, spreads out to the entire world.

However, if we are to add on social responsibility to the arts and creativity to education, the world is bound to be transformed through the soft power of peace. Even when we take the example of the mobile phone alone, we can see that the changes taking place in our reality derive from our own sensibilities and imagination. Now, we live in an era where we can no longer compete merely on quality alone, no matter the product we market. The world today is such that it is no longer possible to rule solely with physical power or bureaucratic systems. Unless we impress and attract people and make citizens think, “Wow!” we will continue to walk along the same path as the now-extinct dinosaurs, no matter how powerful we think we may actually be.

Korea has already organized the Olympics and the World Cup, two of the foremost festivals enjoyed by the entire world. Going forth, Korea will host the G20 summit meeting as well. However, this will be the first time when the wisdom of the world will gather together in one place to hold discussions on the arts, whose national boundaries do not exist as they did in ancient times, and on education, which has already been a far-sighted national policy in Korea. On the days when the grand festivals were hosted, our ancestors used to bring out the valuable crockery, which was usually left untouched for long periods of time, with which to serve the guests. We too, like our ancestors did before us, need to open up to all types of wisdom and opinions that we have held deep inside us for the benefit of everyone today. We need to make the same impeccable preparations, as if building our high-rise towers, by not letting this historical day of art-culture creation simply flow by us.

Now that the world’s civilizations and the axis of the world’s economies are changing gradually, the level of interest and position of the arts and wider culture are also experiencing changes from the outskirts to the center. We must remember that this festival that we are hosting today is what will visualize and accelerate these very changes.