Cancellation of Street Festival... Documentary Produced on Festival History
Support for Local Artists' Online Content Production
[Asia Economy Reporter Park Hyesook] The representative festival of Incheon, the 'Bupyeong Pungmul Grand Festival,' will be held this year in an 'untact' (non-face-to-face) manner to prevent the spread of the novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19).
On the 1st, according to Bupyeong-gu, Incheon, the Bupyeong-gu Festival Committee recently held an extraordinary general meeting and decided to completely cancel events that gather many people, such as the Pungmul Grand Festival street festival and experiential events.
This is a measure to prevent the spread of COVID-19 in the metropolitan area. The Bupyeong Pungmul Grand Festival, which was scheduled to be held in October, will instead produce a documentary reviewing the 24-year history and footsteps of the festival.
Additionally, to support local cultural artists who are struggling due to COVID-19, online content related to pungmul will be produced.
Started in 1997, the Bupyeong Pungmul Grand Festival is a representative festival of Incheon attracting 800,000 tourists annually and was selected as a preliminary cultural tourism festival by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism for 2020-2021.
However, last year, the festival was canceled just two days before its opening to prevent the spread of African Swine Fever (ASF), and this year it was scheduled to be held from October 16 to 18 at Bupyeong-daero, Bupyeong Art Center, and Sintree Park.
Cha Juntak, mayor of Bupyeong-gu, said, "We considered holding the festival for residents and cultural artists who have been depressed due to COVID-19, but we decided to cancel the street festival prioritizing the safety of residents. We will strive to present content worthy of Incheon's representative traditional arts festival by making more thorough preparations for next year's festival."
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