Korean Musical Actors Association launches… Jung Young-ju named inaugural chair - 스포츠경향

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The Korean Musical Actors Association held its inaugural general meeting on the 17th and appointed actor Jung Young-ju as the first chair. Chair Jung Young-ju delivers remarks. Provided by KMAA, the Korean Musical Actors Association

The Korean Musical Actors Association has been officially launched.

On the 17th, the Korean Musical Actors Association held its inaugural general meeting and appointed actor Jung Young-ju as the first chair of the board. Board members include Lee Geon-myeong, Song Yong-jin, Kim A-seon, Yang Jun-mo, and Kim A-young, with Ahn Yu-jin appointed as auditor.

A wide range of senior and junior actors who have long supported the musical theater field joined forces to found the association. A total of 80 actors participated as founding signatories, including Nam Gyeong-eup, Jeon Su-gyeong, Shin Sung-woo, Ahn Jae-wook, Park Ho-san, Kim Sun-young, Lina, and Son Seung-yeon, while Choi Jung-won, Jung Sung-hwa, Shin Young-sook, Um Ki-joon, Kim So-hyun, Son Jun-ho, Min Woo-hyuk, Jeon Mi-do, Hong Kwang-ho, and Kim Junsu also agreed with the purpose of launching the association and lent their support.

The Korean Musical Actors Association was created out of the recognition that, compared with the pace of growth in the musical theater industry, the institutional foundations to ensure actors’ rights and benefits and stable activity remain insufficient.

In particular, there was consensus on the need for an official channel that can unify actors’ voices, moving away from a structure in which individual actors must shoulder on their own the various issues that arise on site, such as contracts by production, long periods of rehearsal and performance, nonpayment of performance fees, safety during performances, career management, and use of artist systems.

Going forward, the association plans to move beyond simple post hoc legal support for recurring issues such as nonpayment of performance fees and contract breaches, and to accumulate related cases and data in order to connect them to the spread of a culture of standard contracts and improvements to laws and systems.

The Korean Musical Actors Association held its inaugural general meeting on the 17th and appointed actor Jung Young-ju as the first chair. Provided by KMAA, the Korean Musical Actors Association

The association will also prepare educational content for actors on contracts, tax and accounting, and artist systems, and plans to expand its activities into discovering and training emerging actors, career management, and live performance and video content projects.

The association also made clear that protecting the rights of actors does not mean confrontation with production companies. At the inaugural meeting, Lee Jong-gyu, chair of the Korea Musical Association, and Han Seung-won, president of the Korea Musical Producers Association, also attended to support the new start of the Korean Musical Actors Association.

The association plans to maintain ongoing communication with organizations related to the musical theater industry and to join forces to create an environment and institutional foundation in which actors and producers can make works together in a stable manner.

On the day of the inaugural general meeting, the Korean Musical Actors Association also signed an industryacademia cooperation memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Jeonghwa Arts University, marking the first step for future projects. The university and the association agreed to collaborate on educational programs involving working musical actors and performing arts experts, as well as on field training and internships, and the joint planning and production of musical, performance video, short-form, and promotional content. They will also cooperate on co-organizing performing arts events, festivals, and awards, and on the use of performance venues and educational facilities.

Han Ki-jeong, president of Jeonghwa Arts University, placed significance on beginning industryacademia cooperation alongside the launch of the association and stated an intention to promote collaborative projects that bring together working actors and performing arts experts with students by leveraging the university’s performance and education infrastructure and content production capabilities.

As the inaugural chair, Jung Young-ju said in her inaugural remarks, “Even with the establishment of the association, not every issue will be resolved overnight. However, I believe it is an important beginning that matters one actor had to shoulder alone can now be discussed together. Without dividing seniors and juniors, leads and ensemble, we will build an association where any musical actor can voice opinions. Producers and actors are partners who make the same stage. While understanding each other’s realities, our role is to build an environment in which actors are properly protected and can remain on stage for a long time. We aim to be an association where actors create the answers together, not one where someone else dictates them.”

After completing approval procedures to establish an incorporated association, the Korean Musical Actors Association plans to begin full-fledged operations.

The association plans to expand its scope step by step beyond the protection of rights and welfare and improvements to contracts and systems, to include education and training, discovery and development of emerging actors, career management, research and archiving, development of performance and video content, cultural sharing, and domestic and international exchange.

The launch of the Korean Musical Actors Association is expected to mark a new starting point, as actors in the musical theater industry in South Korea have begun to speak together about the future of their profession and the stage.