Eunju Yi is a dedicated arts administrator, inspiring arts educator & public speaker and creative storyteller.
Meet Eunju Yi
Eunju (Post Graduate Diploma in Arts Management and BA in Theatre) is a dedicated arts administrator, inspiring arts educator & public speaker and creative storyteller. Her extensive experience in Korea and Canada contributes to her unwavering support of the arts and culture internationally.
She has contributed to the council in various areas and roles, working closely with the LAC team, and diverse partners in local, provincial, and national level. She has also served in her local community as a motivating and artistic educator and an eloquent public speaker.
In 2020, she was accepted to a nationwide leadership training program, Talent to Lead. Through this program, she had the opportunity to expand her knowledge in leadership and management through webinar sessions, discussions with peers, and thought-provoking and inspiring meetings with her mentor.
Eunju has a strong sense of root to her Korean culture and history, and her genuine interests and curiosity in international cultural heritage and history is her main source of inspiration for her creative and artistic work.
Her broad spectrum of interests are including, but not limited to cultural planning and policy development and international and domestic practices of arts and intergovernmental organizations. Her hobby is exploring the historical facts about era based furniture and objects.
Ask Me Anything - with Eunju Yi
What is your artistic background?
I studied theatre for my undergraduate program at Kyungsung University in Busan, South Korea. I participated in a number of diverse theatre projects as an actor, play writer, director, production manager, lighting, sound crew, etc. Each project taught me great life lessons, helped me to broaden/deepen my perspectives and gain new insight, led me to push my boundaries/comfort zone, and made me further explore, experience, and learn. Through theatre, I found my language and vocabulary to communicate with the world. I was able to keep my balance between my ideology and reality and discover many ways to reconnect with myself for meaningful self-reflection.
What do you think are the best skills that you bring to your job?
Intuition. Intuition helps me to collect vast amounts of information about people, situations, etc. in a very short time, which helps me to make sharp and sound judgements and come up with working strategies.
What do you want to make sure you do before you die?
I want to live in an old castle in a European country with my family and surround myself with antique furniture, objects, artworks, music (including musical instruments), and books. Thinking about historical items that contain hundreds of years of stories about space, era, and people is fascinating. I will enjoy breathing in and living in the space that is filled with stories.
Name some favourite films/albums/work of arts/pieces of literature:
I love Surrealist artists and their work. Especially, Salvador Dali’s Illustrations for the Bible and Alice in Wonderland as well as Remedios Varo’s ‘The Call’.
I like Bong Joon-ho’s films, especially Parasite and Mother and Lee Chang-dong’s Peppermint Candy. I also like Jane Campion’s films. The Piano and her recent film The Power of the Dog are my favourites of her work. Also, Studio Ghibli’s animated films, such as Princess Mononoke, Spirted Away, Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind, Whispers of the Heart, Howl’s Moving Castle, etc. are my most cherished films. I’ve watched each of them at least 5-10 times if not more. Each work contains timeless messages that give me new insight and wisdom every time I watch. Jean-Pierre Jaunet’s Amélie, Naoko Ogigami’s slow movie Glasses, and Satoshi Miki’s Turtles Are Surprisingly Fast Swimmers are also my all-time favourites.
What are you happiest doing, when you’re not working?
1) Baking and Gardening with my kids
2) Scribble painting while listening to music
3) Watching era-based movies or photo images of antique furniture and objects
4) Thinking about new stories and perfecting every single factor of each sequence in my mind