Anyone who runs a business would feel a sense of crisis at a certain point. The same is true for those who organize a performing arts festival. Such a feeling, which is actually far from a welcome guest, comes to them quite often, as if it were their close friend. Mr. Jin-gyu Yu, artistic director of the Chuncheon International Mime Festival, is not free from the feeling either. The Festival is now a quarter-century old, an age that seems to have stabilized its organizational system. However, the Festival is still facing a number of fundamental challenges such as funding, securing a venue, differentiating the Festival''s programs and the public''s lack of understanding of the Festival; the Festival has yet to grapple with these challenges.

The budget allocated for this year''s Festival, which will start on May 19, is only 500 million won, a reduction of as much as 150 million won from last year. Securing a venue is a more serious problem. Securing a venue for the "Nanjang" (meaning "mess") program has been challenged greatly while the Festival date is approaching. Such a crisis is not something new. After the Festival, a performing arts festival presenting performances of a unique genre, was held for the first time in 1989, it ceaselessly went through big and small challenges in the process of being known as one the top three international festivals along with the London International Mime Festival(UK) and the Festival Mimos(France). Such challenges increasingly led the Festival organizers to believe that "they must do something to survive." Looking back, it is true that meeting such challenges in a proactive and efficient way paved the way for a new leap forward.

Out of such a sense of crisis requiring creation of something new were born programs such as "Crazy Friday" (a three-day sleepless crazy nanjang) and the Goblin Nanjang (also known as the "Liberation Nanjang"). It is these programs that have greatly contributed to greatly increasing the popularity of the Festival. Transforming a crisis into a basis of growth may be part of Mr. Yu''s DNA. On the 5th, I met with him who is preparing the 25th Festival this year at the festival theater "Gestures" in Hyoja-dong, Chuncheon City where the secretariat of the Festival is located. During the interview, Mr. Yu explained the challenges that are currently faced by the Festival.

Q: What are the challenges you are facing while preparing this year''s Festival?
A: I have served as the artistic director of the Festival since its very beginning and this year is the worst year. The financial support provided by Chuncheon City continues to decrease and this year, the total budget allocated for the Festival is only 500 million won. The city tells us to try to organize the Festival on our own. But our Festival is not a commercial one but one pursuing pure performing arts so we don''t understand the city''s request. It means that the city doesn''t recognize the tangible or intangible gifts that the Festival has offered to the city and its citizens for the past 25 years. The standardization of different festivals and administration-oriented concept of equity are diluting the functionality of the Festival.

Q: I heard that there are funding programs focused on citizens and Festival participants.

A: There are small-scale sponsorship programs such as "Priming Water" and "Follow 1,0000." But these programs are close to campaigns and they don''t really contribute to financing the Festival. Instead, they are about encouraging citizens to donate a small amount of money so they can enjoy the Festival together in a more meaningful way. A self-supporting structure requires sponsorship from businesses. We are trying to attract the co-sponsorship of businesses and local broadcasting companies but we haven''t had any visible result so far. The greatest contribution to funding the Festival comes from ticket sales and business sponsorship and this year''s goal is to reach at least last year''s level for these two sources, which was 200 million won.

Q: What has caused the problem in securing a venue?
A: The Festival''s "Nanjang" programs allow the audience to enjoy performances in nature, free from any obstacles. Such a programs actually constitute the crown jewel of the Festival. At first, the program took place on Hedgehog Island, generating an enthusiastic response from the participants. Afterward, the island came to be developed into a resort so we lost our venue. Since then, we have prepared the program in the downtown area surrounding the Children''s Hall. But recently, the hall was sold and it will become KT&G Chuncheon SangsangMadang. The construction work is going on so the place cannot be used as a festival venue. Looking for an alternative place, we chose Nami Island. The place we found on this island is filed with forests, grass and water and at night, there is no ship going back to the city. To summarize, the venue has natural conditions that allow everyone to enjoy this three-day sleepless "Nanjang" period.

However, Chuncheon City raised an issue. That is, Nami Island is the territory of Chuncheon but since the island belongs to the economic bloc of Gapyeong County, the profits made by the Festival don''t return to Chuncheon. So the city is asking us to prepare the program at the downtown Seongam Stadium or the past Camp Page area where the US army used to be stationed. But it requires a tremendous amount of cost to use these places so our current budget doesn''t allow to do so. In particular, if we organize the program in the Camp Page area, residents could complain about it. When the program took place on Hedgehog Island, residents living in the apartments that were quite far from the venue complained about it saying that it is too noisy. Camp Page is located at the heart of the city so it is almost certain that residents will complain. The Festival board of directors will have a meeting the day after tomorrow to discuss this issue of festival venue because the meeting that was held on the 7th didn''t reached a conclusion.

Q: The difficulty of securing a budget and a venue could influence the program negatively...
A: I''m convinced that a festival isn''t only about money but since it is Chuncheon City that says so first, it is hard to stand. Since the budget is fixed to 500 million won, we are organizing the Festival within the budget, minimizing the overseas troupes'' performances that cost a lot, for example. To be more specific, the Festival will symbolically present only one theater overseas performance which will be The Old King performed by C de la B, a modern dance company from Belgium. For outdoor performances, we invited Kamchatka, a Spanish troupe that will perform The Immigrant and a Japanese troupe specializing in fireworks. The Festival will have only these three overseas troupes.

Q: It is true that recently, the Chuncheon International Mime Festival hasn''t engaged in international exchange much.
A: Yes, it''s true. It is also related to the budget reduction and for the past several years, the Festival has been focused on Korean troupes'' performances. For a certain period of time, we invited many overseas troupes and may Korean ones went abroad. But we thought that the ultimate goal of the Festival doesn''t reside in introducing overseas performances. The Seoul Performing Arts Festival and other festivals are already inviting many overseas works and we figured out that our job is to make our own unique festival. The program called "Ah! Surajang" (meaning a mess of water) started with this concept: during the program, water is poured out at the heart of the city for three hours to make a mess and to purify the city at the same time. There is no reason why we need an overseas troupe for such a program. What we need to survive is to focus on one thing rather than to try different things at the same time. The word "mess" is the best word that describes the Festival. "Ah! Surajang," the three-day sleepless period of "Crazy Friday Nanjang" and the "Goblin Nanjang" are the programs that enable the Festival to survive. What we pursue is actually a carnival rather than an ordinary festival.

Q: It seems that the uniqueness of a mime festival has been weakened a bit recently because of the increase of non-verbal performances.
A: During its first decade, the Festival played a major role of promoting mime in Korea; universities came to have mime classes and mimists started teaching actively. But the very genre of mime has dissipated and there has been a limit to organizing a festival focused only on mime. Plus, all festivals are recently pursuing street festivals and non-verbal performances. For example, both the Hi Seoul Festival and the Busan International Performing Arts Festival present non-verbal performances. Mime is also non-verbal. Our Festival cannot survive unless it differentiates itself from others. That is why I don''t plan to present performances in theaters or on outdoor stages. In other words, I don''t intend to just move theater performances to the street. Instead, it is very important to explore a niche market ahead of others.

Q: Is there any new program you are going to try this year to explore a "niche market"?
A: This year''s Festival will include an "itinerant troupe event." This event will start on the 20th, the day after the opening ceremony and will last for four days. It is similar to Namsadang Nori, a multifaceted folk performance tradition originally practised widely by travelling entertainers in Korea. When the namsadang, a Korean itinerant troupe, is about to enter a village, the chief of the troupe starts negotiating with the village representative to decide how the troupe will entertain the villagers and what its members will eat. The troupe then enters the village to perform overnight and entertain the villagers. Next, they visit another village to perform. In sum, it is a festival dedicated to this itinerant troupe. If the troupe isn''t welcomed by a certain village, it won''t stay there. After performing for four days, the troupe will go back to Nami Island. Ordinary festivals are everywhere so we have decided to put into practice our unique ideas.

Q: Thank you for your interesting and helpful stroies. Can I ask a question about your personal activities as a mimist? Last year, you had a special concert celebrating your 40th year as a mimist. Are you going to perform this year too?
A: The Festival is facing challenges so I stopped my personal performances. I didn''t even apply for subsidy for them. I have presented the "Room" series for three years but this year, I won''t be performing the series. Instead, I''ll continue the "Body" series I started last year. It is a ten-minute performance so it''s not really burdensome. I''ll present the series whenever I have some ideas. I also look forward to gathering together such ten-minute performances to make one big performance.