The Boondang Central Cultural Foundation for Practicing Humanity (BCFH) is a foundation established August 25, 2023. It is funded by Principal Pastor Jeongchun Choi of Bundang Central Presbyterian Church that has been practicing Christian missions and humanity for over 20 years. The BCFH is conducting or preparing cultural projects for humanity, sponsoring artists, and supporting the culturally vulnerable. And the 1st BCFH Cultural Awards were introduced in 2023 in order to find hidden cultural heroes and create a fairer cultural society.

 

The 1st BCFH Cultural Awards held at Grace Hall of Bundang Central Presbyterian Church

“May our ministry create a resonance”

Co-hosted with the Kookmin Ilbo (a daily newspaper) on December 23, 2023 at Grace Hall of Bundang Central Presbyterian Church, the 1st BCFH Cultural Awards presented each respective prize to winners who have shown distinction or have made contributions in our society with their cultural talents. The BCFH said that the awards were introduced in order to find hidden cultural heroes and create a fairer cultural society. All 60 winners in culture and arts, culturally vulnerable groups, and media culture categories received the awards of a total of 216 million won monetary prizes. The founder and hoster of the BCFH Awards and also the principal pastor of the church Jeongchun Choi said “Bundang Central Presbyterian Church, which has a vision to change the world by nurturing people, has been preparing to establish a foundation for 20 years, and has been striving to practice humanitarianism based on the love of Jesus Christ alongside spreading the gospel with bread. We are endeavoring to cultivate opinion leaders in our society and are progressing sequentially with our planned projects. From this year, we will establish a foundation to foster cultural figures and have an award ceremony. We have decided to invest 5 billion won, and we will continue until it is exhausted. In our church, when we say something, we do it.” He added “To do art, you have to have patrons, and we started this to be a welcoming place for that. We want our ministry to  create resonance, just as a small stone can send ripples through the water.”

 

Gyeonggi Province Governor Dongyeon Kim says “I hope the awards will serve as an opportunity for Korea to take a leap forward through good influence and also as a catalyst for the development of culture and arts and a fair and clean society.”

Invited as special and honorary guest to the awards, Gyeonggi Province Governor Dongyeon Kim said in his congratulatory speech “I hope the awards will serve as an opportunity for Korea to take a leap forward through good influence and also as a catalyst for the development of culture and arts and a fair and clean society.” Also taking the podium, Center for Cultural Unification Studies Chairman Jeongok La, who was the head judge of the awards, said “A total of 126 candidates went through strict and fair screenings and I believe that the awards will make contributions to finding hidden talents in culture and arts.” Following La, Kookmin Ilbo President Jaewoon Beon said “It is really meaningful that the church and the BCFH introduced the awards and I hope that the recipients of today’s awards will increase the credibility of the Korean church and lead a revival.”

 

Grand Prize goes to actress Sangmi Choo

Culture and arts have the power to stitch together and heal a divided world

At the awards, the grand prize went to actress Sangmi Choo. She is a devout Christian and has been a leader in cultural missions for more than 15 years, serving as a catalyst for contributing to the expansion of the gospel. As a board member of the G&M Christian Global Culture Foundation, she has appeared on numerous religious broadcasts such as SBS and CBS, given mission and cultural lectures at churches, mission organizations, and universities across the country, and founded Jakin & Boaz, a cultural content production company. Receiving 50 million won, she said “As I watched the entire ceremony from the audience today, I was comforted and encouraged that there are many authentic and wonderful artists of God’s kingdom. I am grateful to Bundang Central Presbyterian Church and its principal pastor, Jeongchun Choi, for creating the BCFH and hosting the awards ceremony for artists who work alone in a scarce environment. The power to stitch and heal a divided world lies in the content of the arts and culture. I hope that the winners will continue to create insightful and good content.”

 

24 receives in culture and arts category

Opportunity for the culturally disadvantaged

At the awards, 24 received 10 million won in the culture and arts category including a missionary music group Violtown, a Christian dancing company LUX Bit Art, and Jiwoo Cha from the Miral Welfare Foundation’s OCI Dream Ensembles. 4 Organizations and 10 individuals received 5 million won in the human resources category and they are the Korea Youth Arts Association, Gyeonggi Opera Company, Korea Artbility Chamber, The Trace, Moongang Seo, Hwanji Jo, Kijoo Kim, Chunho Yoo, Seoheon Ahn, Jaeyul Kim, Jeonghee Kim, Heonjeong Kim, Lina Kang, and Shinja Kim. The Oulrim (harmony) Award was awarded with 5 million won to six individuals among artistic talents belonging to culturally underprivileged groups, such as children of multicultural families, North Korean defector artists, and the disabled and they are John Im, Elina Huh, Eunjae Kim, Sunyoung Kim, Kayoung Jeon, and Jeongnee Choi. 

 

36 receive media culture category

Congratulatory performance

At the awards, 36 received in the media culture category with a 1 million won prize each. Some of the winners gave congratulatory performance on the day and the BCFH said that it would increase the fund to 500 million won from the year 2024. Since its establishment in 1991, Bundang Central Presbyterian Church has made every effort to nurture talent with the vision of ‘a church that changes the world by nurturing people.’ As part of these activities, the church announced the publication of the Korean Theological Series on September 10, 2023, along with a professor at Chongshin University who was an ‘overseas talent training scholarship recipient.’ The faculty members who participated in the publication said, “Through writings on major research topics in each field of theology, we look back on past theological trends from a diachronic perspective and suggest future-oriented directions and alternatives from a synchronic perspective, forming a consensus in the Korean religious community and society.”

강영훈  kangy423@naver.com