The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism announced on the 24th that last year, 24 cultural cities nationwide revitalized 5,239 cultural spaces, allowing 4.23 million residents and visitors to enjoy cultural experiences. This number has significantly increased compared to 3,658 spaces and 2.53 million people in 2023.
The cultural city project is a key initiative by the Ministry aiming to realize the national agenda of ‘regional-centered cultural balanced development.’ In December 2019, the first seven cultural cities were designated, and by 2022, a total of 24 have been designated up to the fourth round. A cultural city refers to a city designated by the Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism according to the ‘Regional Culture Promotion Act’ to effectively utilize the city’s unique cultural resources and enhance cultural creativity.
Based on performance evaluations of the first to fourth round cultural cities, it was found that 24 cultural cities across the country activated 5,239 cultural spaces, with a total of 4.23 million residents and visitors enjoying cultural activities. Last year, the Ministry supported each of the 24 cultural cities with 1.5 billion won from the national budget to improve regional cultural conditions, discover and support cultural content based on unique local culture, and foster creative cultural talent.
The Ministry evaluated these achievements and selected Miryang City in South Gyeongsang Province as the ‘Cultural City of the Year.’ Since being designated as a third-round cultural city in 2021, Miryang City has promoted various cultural projects with the vision of ‘Restoring Life, A New Future, Sunshine Cultural City Miryang.’ Notably, the site of Miryang University, which had been neglected for about 18 years after the school’s closure, was reborn as the ‘Sunshine Cultural Campus,’ establishing itself as a cultural hub for the area.
Other initiatives include hosting the ‘Miryangda Festa,’ cultural regeneration of urban vacant spaces, operating an artists’ art market, building the Sunshine Cultural brand, forming the Sunshine Cultural community, and running a citizen living lab to revitalize local culture. Approximately 30,000 citizens attended the 4th Miryangda Festa held on the 100th anniversary of the founding of Miryang University, and ‘Composite Cultural Space Yeoldudal’ within the Sunshine Cultural Campus, which opened last November, attracted 140,000 visitors in two months. These projects led to an economic impact of 9.7 billion won and helped promote the regional image themed ‘Sunshine.’ Additionally, unique contents like ‘Arirang of Independent Fighters’ and ‘Yeongdeung Granny Arirang’ were developed to solidify Miryang’s city image represented by ‘Arirang’.
In December of last year, the Ministry designated 13 additional ‘Korea Cultural Cities,’ which are ‘wide-area leading model.’ This year, the Ministry plans to continue supporting cultural cities while also vigorously pursuing the creation of ‘Korea Cultural Cities.’ This project, which aims to comprehensively improve the cultural conditions of neighboring regions beyond just the designated areas, will allocate 20 billion won per region over three years starting this year. Since this project is wide-area-linked, it plans to facilitate active exchanges with other regions, including existing cultural cities.
Minister Yu In-chon stated, “The ‘Cultural City’ project, which expands cultural enjoyment opportunities for local residents and leads regional development through culture, is a key initiative of the Ministry. We will take responsibility and provide unwavering support to ensure that each region selected as a ‘Cultural City’ develops to become a place that people want to visit, stay, and live in, highlighting their unique characteristics.”