ABOUT US

“Jeju Island represents so many things to me and my family. It’s both a place of many colorful, core childhood memories and simultaneously a grounds of some of my family’s business roots. To many nationals and foreigners alike, Jeju embodies a simple and particular function: an escapist tourist destination. Within the last few decades, it has evolved into a complex amalgam of gentrification, international commercial development, each change intertwining with several pockets of residents that fight to preserve its heritage. More often than not, these tectonic shifts in industrialization bulldoze through the island’s natural and social ecosystems and traditions.

What often happens in these phases of grand transition is the turning of a blind eye towards the less glamorous side of economic growth. The individual socioeconomic struggles become lost within a sea of first world opportunity and a zeitgeist that collectively calls for change, sometimes at the expense of the marginalized.

Because Jeju is less a vacation spot to me and more of a home away from home, I’ve been fortunate enough to pay close attention to some of the small occurrences that many visitors just don’t have the time to stop and carefully observe. One of those occurrences happens to be the legacy of orphans and foster children that live on the island.

I hope to build a platform that helps raise awareness and fund arts programs for this specific demographic residing in a place close to my heart. I have been able to trace some of the roots to a post-war political landscape with a history of funneling orphans and fosters to Jeju in an attempt to stop sending children abroad, but some may argue the motives for this reality are nested in an outdated nationalism rather than from a place of social compassion. Though child centers and schools are rapidly developing around the foster population, I believe there is still more that can be done for this community’s emotional and psychological well-being, mostly through what I found to be personal havens of mine: mentorship and the performing arts.

Through the sense of togetherness via collaborating on stage and on a production, in conjunction with the ability of telling and experiencing the universal, humanistic stories of theater and performing arts, I hope to create a small collective of mentors and mentees that channel difficulties into something that is intimate, creative and collaborative.

“Raised by Wolves” is my attempt to found a small network of foster students that may discover the strength within to withstand outward social stigma, avoid shame and embrace their identity while finding a voice through creativity, community and craft.”

Sky Hong, Founder, SPS Class of 2023