With school break just around the corner, museums and art centers have lined up a variety of cultural events.

The programs will suit the needs of children and teenagers looking for fun and entertaining events as well as parents seeking to find more educational opportunities.

Although the vacation has been made shorter by the five-day school week this year, children and parents can still make the best of it in an enriching cultural atmosphere.

Here are some fun yet educational summer programs that will keep students busy and active.

Arts

Goyang Oulim Art Museum holds an exhibition that encourages children to experience colors and patterns. The exhibition allows children of school age to interact with artworks by entering three rooms that feature participating artists.

The first section invites viewers to become part of the artwork and reinterprets Korea’s traditional beauty in a modern way.

The second and third sections play with patterns, confusing viewers with repetition and letting viewers engage with pattern tricks. 

The exhibition continues through Sept. 2 at Goyang Oulim Art Museum in Goyang, Gyeonggi Province. It is closed on Mondays. Admission is 3,000 won for adults and children and special programs are 5,000 won.

For more information, visit www.artgy.or.kr or call (031) 960-9730.

Students can see historical artifacts from the Louvre Museum without flying to Paris this summer.

Seoul Arts Center holds the Louvre Museum exhibition, featuring 110 artifacts from the world’s richest art-history treasure trove until Sept. 30.

Themed “Greek Mythology,” the exhibition offers a chance to learn about Greek myths and ancient literature and provides insight to the ancient history and origins of Western civilization.

The exhibits tell stories of the Trojan War, Daphnis and Chloe and Metamorphoses by the Roman poet Ovid.

Tickets cost 8,000 won for elementary school students, 10,000 for teenagers and 12,000 won for adults.

Those aged over 65, the disabled, and children under school age can get discount tickets at 5,000 won. The audio guide is offered at 3,000 won.

For more information, call (02) 325-1077.

Ancient Rome will be recreated in the heart of Seoul this summer. The exhibition, organized by private company World City Life Project, gives Seoulites the chance to learn about the ancient civilization and its great inventions and experience the life and culture in realistic settings. Divided into four sections, the exhibition recreates scenes from the Roman Empire based on its military, civil engineering, architecture and entertainment cultures. It also displays about 50 artifacts from the Museum of Roman Civilization in Italy, including several Roman inventions.

The exhibition continues through Aug. 26 at the War Memorial of Korea in Yongsan, Seoul.

It will be closed Mondays, and on weekdays after a public holiday.

Admission is 12,000 won for children under 13 and 15,000 won for those aged 14 to 65. Groups of more than 20 people can get a discount.

For more information, visit romanholiday.co.kr, or call 1599-8329.

Music concerts

Families with children are invited for a three-day trip to Jindo, South Jeolla Province, where the spirit and legacy of Korean traditional music have been well preserved. The Jindo National Gugak Center holds a three-day event for families interested in learning gugak and experiencing the culture of the southern part of the country from July 27 to 29. Call (061) 540-4034 for more information.

At the National Gugak Center in Seoul, two concerts ― “Soogoonga” and “That Girl, Yoo Gwan-soon” ― will be staged for young people on Aug. 9 and 10. All tickets are 5,000 won. Call (02) 580-3300 for more information.

The National Theater of Korea presents its annual event designed for multicultural families from July 25 to 29. In its third run, the state-run theater located on Mount Nam in Seoul, will stage “Rainbow Dreams” performed by children from multicultural families as well as “Super Hero” directed by eight artists each from different countries. Tickets range from 20,000 won to 30,000 won. 

The theater is also currently running “2012 Yeowoo Rack Festival,” a two-week event, directed by new age pianist Yang Bang-eon. Under this year’s slogan “Our Music: Here & Now,” Yang tries to reinterpret Korean traditional music today by collaborating with artists from different parts of the world. Tickets are 30,000 won but outdoor concerts are free. For more information, call (02) 2280-4114 or visit www.ntok.go.kr.

Goyang Aramnuri offers classical music concerts for middle- and high-school students from Aug. 10 to 18. The three concerts are designed to give students a chance to hear orchestral music live and gain a better understanding of the music through accompanying mini lectures by the conductors. Tickets are priced at 12,000 won. For more information, visit www.artgy.or.kr or www.facebook.com/artsgoyang.

Comedian Jeon Yoo-sung also hosts a lecture concert for teenagers on July 27 at the Seoul Arts Center and on Aug. 19 at the Goyang Aramnuri. The veteran entertainer will lead students to the world of classical music with his witty lectures on classical music repertoires. Tickets range from 10,000 won to 50,000 won. Call (031) 742-1710, for more information.

Other options

The annual Marronnier Summer Festival will be held from Aug. 3 to 11 in Seoul theater district Daehangno. The nine-day festival consists of indie film and animation screenings, showing of 13 plays and musicals, a flea market and a camping opportunity at a parking lot located in Daehangno.

Tickets are currently open online for the festival’s upcoming Aug. 10 “art camping” in Daehangno. It will be held at ARKO Arts Theater’s parking lot, which is capable of housing about 120 people. Musician Ha Rim is scheduled to hold a concert, while a number of movies will be screened against the theater building’s brick wall. A night snack will be provided. Tickets will be sold on a first-come, first-served basis, and can be purchased online at www.hanpac.or.kr

Some of the most recognized indie films in the past few years, including Yang Ik-jun’s 2008 drama “Breathless” and Jeong Byeong-gil’s 2008 film “Action Boys,” will be screened during the festival as well.

Fusion music band Seba will perform in a concert along with Latin dancers, while theater troupe “Tomato” will showcase their play titled “Coffee Play,” which tells the story of a group of friends who get into a conflict as they aren’t sure who should pay for their coffee. For this year’s full line-up, visit www.hanpac.or.kr 

The National Folk Museum of Korea is holding its special summer program for children and teenagers from July 20 to Aug. 24. The program consists of a total of 11 educational classes and exhibitions. The program includes the “Museum Mentor School,” where students can meet and talk with museum curators and learn about what they do; classes on multiculturalism where children can learn about different cultures and entertainment in other countries, such as Mongolia, Vietnam, and the Philippines; an exhibition featuring everyday lives of the working class in the Joseon Dynasty. The museum’s arts and craft classes offer an opportunity for the students to make their own fans in Korea’s traditional artistic style. For more information, call (02) 3704-4528.

By Cho Chung-un, Lee Woo-young and Claire Lee
(christory@heraldcorp.com)
(wylee@heraldcorp.com)
(dyc@heraldcorp.com)