Chile's minister of culture, arts and heritage sees a promising partnership with Korea in the audiovisual sector, driven by Chile’s new rebate system and Korea’s strong export capacity.
In an interview with The Korea Herald, Minister Carolina Arredondo cited reciprocal market platforms — such as the Chilean cultural and creative industries market (MIC) in Santiago and the K-Content Expo in Korea — as “windows into each other’s industries.”
MIC Chile is a platform to exchange and collaborate in arts and culture to develop creative industries as pillars of sustainable growth with economic, social, environmental, and cultural impact.
“The most promising sectors in the near term are the audiovisual field — leveraging Chile’s new rebate and Korea’s strong export capacity — along with animation, gaming, music, and design, which can drive audience development and cultural circulation,” said Arredondo who visited Gyeongju to attend the APEC High-Level Dialogue on Cultural and Creative Industries last week.
The country's new cultural rebate program offers up to 40 percent cashback on audiovisual production expenses, capped at $3 million per project, to attract international film and TV projects and boost the local creative industry.
The rebate is a part of Chile's five-year strategy to expand arts access, support creative industries and cultural infrastructure.
Under the 2025 Cultural Pass initiative, Chile is also granting a one-time electronic voucher of 50,000 pesos (about $52) to more than 300,000 beneficiaries — young people turning 18 from the 40 percent most vulnerable households and adults turning 65 who receive the Guaranteed Universal Pension. The benefit can be used in cinemas, theaters, bookstores and other cultural venues, with the aim of boosting cultural participation and revitalizing the creative industries.
According to Arredondo, Chile and Korea view culture as a public good and a driver of the future, with ties in creative industries that are vibrant yet still emerging.
"Our invitation is to keep creating together, from poetry to animation, from heritage to design, so that creativity becomes the bridge bringing our societies ever closer.”
She also suggested more research collaboration in the creative industries, highlighting the Korean Cultural Center in Santiago and K-pop’s popularity in Chile.
“Chile came to this dialogue to establish a shared cultural cooperation agenda across the Pacific corridor, to develop comparable indicators for cultural participation and the creative economy, and to present the forthcoming Memorandum with Korea as a road map for bilateral cooperation,” she said.
She pointed to Korea’s leadership in the forum as “invaluable,” referring to the country's expertise in internationalizing content and connecting to global value chains.
“The forthcoming MOU with Korea’s Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism will set the framework for deeper cooperation in the film and audiovisual sectors,” she said.
Chile hopes to advance co-production opportunities, technical residencies, professional training, archive exchanges, and reciprocal participation in markets.
"Several initiatives are already under discussion, including a pilot co-development fund, animation residencies, and scouting opportunities for Korean producers to take advantage of Chile’s rebate.
“These steps pave the way toward a future co-production treaty,” Arredondo noted.
Meanwhile, she also recommended Nobel laureate Gabriela Mistral as a foundational figure in Chile’s literary identity to readers.
She highlighted contemporary voices such as Roberto Bolano and Alejandro Zambra, both widely translated and popular among younger readers, as well as Nona Fernandez, whose narratives of memory resonate globally.
“We can also include Alia Trabucco, whose work has earned growing recognition within Chilean literature and beyond,” she added.
“Literature opens the way to deeper mutual understanding: Every translation and every shared book builds cultural and emotional bridges — a quiet yet profoundly powerful form of diplomacy.”
sanjaykumar@heraldcorp.com
