| The Houses of Culture in Korea were established by the national government in 1996 as the first multi-functional cultural centers to foster culture at the community level. An authoritarian central government had been transformed to a democratic system, and local autonomy had been initiated just a few years before. Thus, civil society and the private sector had not yet developed their capacity to support community cultural activities. Rather, the central government made the rapid establishment of Houses of Culture possible by supporting their construction and operation. By fostering cultural activities that encourage diversity, identity, and creative expression, the Houses of Culture contributed to enhancing "cultural democracy" in the community. This is distinctive from previous national policies for "democratizing culture.";Subsequently, when the central government adopted a policy of decentralization in Korea, the Houses of Culture confronted challenges to their viability. Since Korea's central government devolved many public programs, including Houses of Culture, to the local governments in 2005, there have been few Houses of Culture established and most of the existing ones have confronted unstable financial resources. Several were closed or integrated into other facilities. Ironically, decentralization has jeopardized the viability of Houses of Culture in Korea.;In an effort to deal with the challenges facing the House of Culture, this research focuses on the analysis of cultural governance around the Houses of Culture in Korea, which have been influenced by national policy changes from centralization to decentralization. The devolution of Houses of Culture signified reduced central government support, which in turn affected the decision making of local governments as well as other public intermediaries. During this process, Houses of Culture also failed to make an influence on cultural politics at the national and local levels to maintain public support. The rise of other competing local cultural initiatives increasingly questioned the role and identity of Houses of Culture.;As a whole, the change of cultural governance surrounding Houses of Culture since their decentralization has negatively affected their viability and community cultural democracy in Korea. The overall conditions that Houses of Culture must face have become more severe since decentralization. A few Houses of Culture, including those in Gwang-ju, showed the potential for development to sustain community cultural democracy. However, factors that support local Houses of Culture, such as relatively strong local cultural infrastructure and cultural politics, as well as support from national and local cultural initiatives, are not yet duplicable to many other cities.;The centrally-driven decentralization of the Participatory Government in Korea (2003 to 2008) did not produce democratizing political reform, which prevented the development of local society. As a result, local cultural politics were constrained by under-developed political power and were unable to press local policymakers to make efficient and democratic decisions. In this situation, the decentralized local cultural policy process was dominated by the local administration, where local economic development was a priority over enhancing community cultural democracy. Downward fiscal transfer to the lowest level of local governments with the least resources aggravated the situation. Fiscal decentralization without internal development of local politics rather became a threat to community cultural democracy in Korea. |
