Incheon Economic Agency Partners with City of Glendale for Entertainment Industry and Economic Growth
The Incheon Free Economic Zone(IFEZ) has struck an entertainment partnership deal with the city of Glendale in California, agreeing to bolster entertainment industry collaboration and grow Incheon into a global cultural hub, according to the Korean coastal city’s special economic district, Friday.
By partnering with Glendale, home to globally renowned entertainment companies like DreamWorks Animation, Incheon aims to expand its U.S. entertainment network and strengthen its local entertainment industry. This collaboration follows its earlier agreement with the U.S. city of Burbank, also in California.
The agreement, signed at Art Center Incheon on Oct. 21, includes introducing a new government-to-government platform jointly built by the governments of Incheon and Glendale and sharing it with entertainment companies in both cities.
IFEZ expects the partnership to simultaneously bolster production, distribution and consumption in the entertainment industry and markets of the two countries.
Glendale houses many global content developers including DreamWorks, a subsidiary of Universal Pictures which produced global animation hits like 'Shrek' and 'Kung Fu Panda' franchises and 'Trolls'.
On the same day as the agreement signing, the IFEZ hosted the Hollywood and Asia Entertainment Forum. The event featured IFEZ Commissioner Yun Won-sok, Glendale Mayor Elen Asatryan, movie producer Patrick Cheh, known for "The Watcher" starring Keanu Reeves, and Eric Yoon, CEO of America's largest Korean TV network, TVK24.
Yun said that with the IFEZ’s latest deal with Glendale, he plans to host the bilateral forum regularly.
“By hosting Hollywood’s Asian version in Incheon, we’ll support our cultural contents’ export,” he said. “We also plan to introduce Hollywood Asia Theme Park.”
The IFEZ’s latest overseas market expansion follows Incheon’s partnership deal in 1961 with Burbank, another U.S. hub for global media companies. The IFEZ said its upcoming bilateral platform for U.S. entertainment companies will hopefully extend to Hollywood and Los Angeles, and further strengthen Incheon’s entertainment industry.