NC Cultural Foundation emphasizes creativity at its 10th anniversary celebration

Tech

Published: 20 Oct. 2022, 17:43

NC Cultural Foundation emphasizes creativity at its 10th anniversary celebration

KAIST President Lee Kwang-hyung gives welcoming remarks at the “Next Creativity Conference 2022” held in celebration with the foundation’s 10th anniversary at the foundation’s headquarters in Daehangno, central Seoul, on Thursday. [NC CULTURAL FOUNDATION]

NC Cultural Foundation, a culture and education foundation established by game publisher NCSoft, held its “Next Creativity Conference 2022” to celebrate the foundation's 10th anniversary on Thursday at its headquarters in Daehangno, central Seoul.

Attended by tech and education experts such as KAIST President Lee Kwang-hyung, NCSoft CEO Kim Taek-jin and Esther Wojcicki, vice chair of the Creative Commons advisory council, the conference was held under the slogan "Creativity at every moment of life" to discuss how to nurture creativity for the next generation through various education programs for children.

"I believe that creativity starts from believing that it can be developed through effort," the KAIST president said.

"Our brain develops more cells in areas that are used more often and die if they're not, meaning that we can shape our brains the way we want to […] In my lectures, I encourage students to talk about something they've never heard or read anywhere else. They feel scared at first, but within a few weeks, they start asking the most absurd questions, and that's what I believe creativity is."

NC Cultural Foundation was established in 2012 in celebration of NCSoft’s 15th anniversary. Each year, the foundation receives 1 percent of the average of NCSoft’s pre-tax profit from the three previous years to cover the costs of its businesses. Last year, the foundation spent 5.4 billion won ($3.8 million).

A library section at NC Cultural Space's Projectory cultural space for children at the foundation’s headquarters in Daehangno, central Seoul [YOON SO-YEON]

Work stations at NC Cultural Space's Projectory cultural space for children at the foundation’s headquarters in Daehangno, central Seoul [YOON SO-YEON]

In 2020, the foundation built Projectory on the third and fourth floors of the headquarters as a cultural space for holding extracurricular education programs for children aged between 9 and 18.

Projectory is a mashup of the words project and laboratory, and serves as a space that allows children the opportunity to carry out experimental projects as if they would in a lab. Ranging from reading and writing to singing, rapping, painting and crafting, children get to engage in diverse creative activities under the supervision of the foundation staff.

“The foundation was not built for a specific purpose, but for our goal to help make the world a better place by doing what we do best,” said Yoon Song-yee, chairperson of the NC Cultural Foundation, in a separate interview with the local press during the conference.

Children’s everyday creativity can be nurtured only if they’re exposed to diverse sensory stimuli and engage in active communication with their peers, which is why NC Cultural Foundation opened Projectory, according to Yoon.

“What we do best is not just making games, but understanding how people play and become motivated through it," Yoon said. "Projectory is thus a space that encompasses that idea with the aim to reach out to people who have been marginalized in society.”

Yoon Song-yee, chairperson of the NC Cultural Foundation, sits down in an interview with the local press as a part of the “Next Creativity Conference 2022” at the foundation’s headquarters in Daehangno, central Seoul, on Thursday. [YOON SO-YEON]

The foundation chooses 15 to 20 children each month and allows them a free six-month membership that can be extended for as long as they wish until they turn 19 years old. Once chosen as a Projectory member, children are mentored by NC Cultural Foundation staff members and can carry out projects of their choice.

Although the Projectory membership and other programs are open to anyone, children who are more segregated from society need to be reached out to by the foundation because it’s more difficult for them to be exposed to such opportunities without the help of keen parents.

In addition to running Projectory, NC Cultural Foundation also holds regular programs such as an education camp for children in orphanages and special-needs schools in partnership with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). The foundation invites MIT students to come spend summer vacation by taking part in science and engineering programs with children in need.

“In a way, messing things up is a luxury that not all children can have,” said Yoon. “That’s why we have children come to Projectory and try out the things they want and express themselves. We’ve found through surveys that children leave the program with their confidence in creativity greatly enhanced afterward.”

The foundation is now focusing on getting children more acquainted with future technologies, such as those of artificial intelligence (AI) and the metaverse. AI technology will not replace humans in society but will be used as a tool by humans, which is why children need to be taught from a young age how to do so, according to Yoon.

“Experiments have proven that neurons in the brain die if they’re not used from a young age,” she said.

“Technology has changed so much over the past 10 to 20 years, and we believe it’s our duty to even out the playing field for children in the era of AI and the fourth industrial revolution. We are always thinking about how to expand our projects and make them more approachable by children of all walks of life.”

BY YOON SO-YEON [yoon.soyeon@joongang.co.kr]