Jinju City Supports Emergency Creative Activities for Cultural Artists and Groups to Overcome COVID-19

100 Million KRW Support for Individuals and Groups, Expansion of Support for Young Artists
Applications Accepted from the 20th to February 2nd, Payment Scheduled Before Lunar New Year Holiday

Jinju City Local Culture and Arts Artists Meeting (Photo by Jinju City)

[Asia Economy Yeongnam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Choi Soon-kyung] Jinju City, Gyeongnam Province, announced on the 19th that it will invest 550 million KRW from the Disaster Safety Management Fund to provide emergency living expenses and support for creative preparation activities for cultural artists and organizations due to the prolonged COVID-19 pandemic.

The emergency living expenses and creative preparation support fund will be provided at 1 million KRW each to cultural artists and organizations who have their address in the city as of the announcement date and are actively working.

This support cannot be combined with the city’s 4th regional economic emergency support measures for businesses subject to gathering bans or restrictions, or with special employment types and freelancer livelihood stabilization funds.

Artists eligible for support must reside in Jinju City as of the announcement date and either have completed or be in the process of applying for certification of artistic activities from the Korea Artists Welfare Foundation; support is available after the certificate is issued.

Cultural and artistic organizations must hold a unique number certificate or business registration certificate issued with a Jinju City address as of the announcement date and have at least two cultural and artistic activity records in the past five years.

This year, unlike last year, the support scope has been expanded to include young artists with at least one cultural and artistic activity record in the past two years.

The program focuses on practical support for cultural and artistic activities by relaxing residency period restrictions and health insurance premium income assessment criteria.

A city official stated, “We deeply empathize with the difficulties faced by the cultural and artistic community due to strengthened quarantine measures,” and added, “We hope this support can be a small help.”

Meanwhile, since last year, the city has been discovering and promoting various policies such as non-face-to-face online performance and creative activity support funds and small-scale cultural and artistic activity support to aid the local cultural and artistic community struggling with COVID-19.