Spreading Influenza A spawns 'visiting art galleries' in S. Korea

By Shin Hae-in
SEOUL, Oct. 29 (Yonhap) -- With schools limiting students' activities outside
their facilities for fear of the rapidly spreading Influenza A, art museums are
developing programs to come to students instead.

The National Museum of Contemporary Art began its "visiting children's museum"
program Thursday, under which educators and curators will visit schools with
artworks every week.
The first session was held at Daeo Elementary School, located in Osan, just
outside of Seoul, exhibiting about 10 works in school hallways, including
paintings by Park Hyung-jin and Ahn Yoon-mo.
???We have received positive answers from schools, with many of them afraid to
take students out on field trips," said Lee Seung-mi, head of the museum's
education department.???This program is considered very effective, covering about
1,000-1,500 children per session.???
The gallery usually has about 150,000-200,000 child visitors each year, she added.
In South Korea alone, close to 8,000 people are being diagnosed daily as having
contracted the H1N1 virus. Since the first death was reported locally in
mid-August, 33 South Koreans have died from the infection so far, with five of
them being relatively young and healthy.
The government is currently considering whether to close schools where Influenza
A is spreading quickly to protect children from infection.
The national museum plans to run the program in elementary schools in Seoul and
the adjacent Gyeonggi Province through the end of this year and expand the
program to other regions next year.
Smaller art museums are also following the lead.
Hello Museum, a children's art gallery run by the Gangnam district in southern
Seoul, has been running the "Hello Art??? program since early this year, visiting
nursery schools with artworks, including photographs by Maggie Taylor
and???Spider Woman by Louise Bourgeois.
???We hope to give young children the chance to enhance their creativity when
their outdoor activities have been limited due to the spreading flu virus,???the
gallery said on its Web site.
hayney@yna.co.kr
(END)