CPI Online Reunion
<Connecting Again to CPI>
The CPI Secretariat held the first-ever online reunion for CPI participants on September 9 to get together for the first time since the CPI program started.
The secretariat has previously hosted annual in-person reunions to support participants through sharing program information and networking. This reunion’s location has been in one of six nations (Viet Nam, Indonesia, the Philippines, Myanmar, Thailand, and Mongolia) every year since 2016.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic’s limits on mobilization and meetings, we prepared the event in a new webinar format. Regardless of geographical location, any CPI participant could participate and share their stories as long as they had Internet connection. The secretariat began promoting the online reunion to participants in different countries around the world in July and prepared various programs with them.
Under the title “Connecting Again to CPI,” the online reunion consisted of participants’ stories, conveying a positive message that transcends time and space to local communities by coming together as one under the name of CPI. Taking into account time zone differences, the reunion was held twice at 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. (Korean Standard Time), welcoming a total of 58 participants from 27 countries. Participants from 2006 through 2019 strengthened their bond as CPI participants as they greeted each other and communicated in real time.
In particular, presentations from eight CPI participants who shared in detail their activities as professional artists in their home countries demonstrated the value of CPI membership to current CPI participants who have had limited chances to meet participants from other years.
These eight CPI participants each created a video beforehand to share their presentations, the topics of which ranged from public projects that utilize Korean culture to a participant’s life as a career woman working at an IT firm in Korea, a celebratory performance, and an educational enterprise that centers around art and culture.
According to the real-time survey that was conducted after the reunion, participants were highly satisfied with the webinar event and the eight CPI participants’ presentations were especially well-received as many answered that they found them the most intriguing. The secretariat plans to prepare programs in which participants all over the world continue to interact and participate in the future.
Different culture and language backgrounds make us all different, but one thing is clear. We are all walking towards our dreams by encouraging cultural exchange in local communities based on our experiences in the CPI program.
We hope that this reunion provided participants with the opportunity to give insight to one another by sharing their energy and expressing it in new ways in their respective positions.
| Life in your country |
Your Life in Uganda - Badru Ntulage(Uganda)
Badru Ntulage founded a taekwondo academy in Uganda and is teaching taekwondo to local residents. The taekwondo academy also acts as a community center that offers programs for women and residents of disenfranchised neighborhoods in Uganda. Your Life in Nigeria - Williams Isioma(Nigeria) Williams Isioma runs a janggu club in Nigeria and hosts janggu lessons and performances in connection with the Korean Cultural Center. He continues to carry on cultural exchange by holding collaborative performances of Korean and Nigerian traditional percussion instruments. |
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| Life in Korea |
Your Life in Korea - Zaw Win-Phyu Wa(Myanmar)
Zaw Win-Phyu Wa, who developed an interest in Korea through Hallyu (the Korean Wave) introduces her life in Korea working at an IT firm after participating in the CPI program |
| The Special Performances |
Special Performances in Mongolia - Sandag Ochir(Mongolia)
Sandag Ochir, a CPI participant who studied traditional Mongolian dance, is propelling a dance project that combines traditional Mongolian dance with contemporary B-boying movements in order to promote traditional culture to Mongolian youth, whose understanding of traditional Mongolian dance is declining. Special Performances in Indonesia - Rini Utami(Indonesia) Rini Utami, a CPI participant from Indonesia who participated in the program at the Andong Festival Tourism Foundation, presented a solo dance performance using a mask in a reinterpretation of the Jakarta traditional dance of the Indonesian people. |
| The Best Social Projects |
“Dance for All” Dance Project - Julie Iarisoa(Madagascar)
Julie Iarisoa, who runs a contemporary dance studio in Madagascar, gives hope to local residents through art. The dance workshop expands opportunities to enjoy culture for students, who have limited chances to experience art. “The Experimental Charango Orchestra” Music Project - Flora Isabel Villarroel Gutirrez(Bolivia) Flora Isabel Villarroel Gutirrez, who is renowned as a performer of charango, the traditional instrument of Bolivia, has founded and is taking part in Bolivia’s first-ever charango orchestra after completing the CPI program. “Totem” Contemporary Dance Project - Jorge Abraham Guillen Ortiz(Mexico) The winning work of “The Project Competition for Overcoming COVID-19” which was hosted by the Mexican government, this project by Jorge Abraham Guillen Ortiz showcases the kind of art activities in which one can participate even in today’s non-contact society. |
