BKS Grants Programme 2020 Report
Written by: Ian Simm | Posted on: December 15th, 2020
Although our programme of small grants has been disrupted by the coronavirus pandemic, we have been able to support some worthwhile activities this year.
We have set two deadlines for grant applications, in February and September. In February, we allocated 4 grants, although so far – owing to COVID restrictions – only two have led to activity. These were
- LSE Students’ Union’s Korea Future Forum
- Edinburgh University Korean Students’ Society’s conference on the independence struggle of 1919 and on future prospects for reunification on the Korean peninsula – a report on this conference appears on the grants pages of the website.
We also awarded a grant to the Lancaster University International Language Café for their planned Let’s Do Korea programme, aimed at increasing awareness of Korean culture in the area surrounding Lancaster. Elements include a talent show featuring Korean culture and marketing information about Korea; but this event has had to be postponed. So has Dr Siming You’s visit to Korea to organise a UK-Korea workshop on sustainable waste management as part of an international conference, and to develop links between his team at Glasgow University and Korea University.
In September, we also agreed to award 4 grants. The only project so far to have come to fruition has been the development of on-line Korean language materials for students at Sheffield University who have had to postpone their year abroad owing to COVID-19. The work was co-ordinated by Mrs Sukyeon Cho and we were delighted to learn that she has been made recipient of the Korean President’s Award by President Moon Jae-in for her contribution to Korean Studies and Korean language learning.
The other grant allocations are to
- Yellow Earth theatre company, to produce 200 playscripts in support of a British Korean play on the WWII “comfort women” to tour UK in 2021
- Warwick University Korean Society, to contribute to the costs of their two planned events for early 2021, the Warwick East Asian Conference and the Bong Joon-ho movie marathon
- Ms Jung-eun Byun, tutor at the Royal School of Needlework, for a visit to Korea to study and record traditional needlework techniques and then contribute to the World Stitch Bank project at the Royal School
We hope that these projects will be able to go ahead during the coming year.
