'2021 Songpa District Public Cultural and Arts Group Year-End Concert' Held

[Seoul District News] Joint Performances by Youth Symphony Orchestra, Symphony Orchestra, Silver Choir, Choir, and Folk Arts Group at Songpa-gu Community Center Auditorium on the 16th at 6 PM, Live Broadcast on Songpa TV YouTube... Yangcheon-gu Hosts '2021 Yangcheon Light Festival' (Haewoori Cultural Festival)... Dongdaemun-gu Admission Counseling Center Holds Online '2022 Final Regular Admission Strategy Briefing' for Examinees and Parents on the 20th... 2021 Yeongdeungpo Top 10 News No.1: 'Regulation of Prostitution Areas'... Gwanak-gu Ombudsman Conducts On-site Complaint Audit, Inspection, and Integrity Contract Monitoring Evaluation

[Asia Economy Reporter Park Jong-il] Songpa-gu (Mayor Park Seong-su) will hold the '2021 Year-end Concert of the Songpa-gu Public Cultural and Arts Groups' on the 16th at 6 p.m. in the main auditorium on the 3rd floor of the Songpa-gu Community Center, featuring the public cultural and arts groups.

Mayor Park Seong-su stated, “We have prepared a place for communication and harmony to comfort the hearts tired from COVID-19 with the beautiful harmony presented by the public cultural and arts groups.”

This year-end concert is the first regular performance held in two years since the prolonged COVID-19 pandemic, and it is also the first joint performance where the public cultural and arts groups gather together to conclude their activities for the year.

Currently, there are a total of seven public cultural and arts groups active in Songpa-gu. Among them, the concert will feature the ▲Youth Symphony Orchestra ▲Public Symphony Orchestra ▲Silver Choir ▲Public Choir ▲Folk Arts Group, delivering messages of hope and healing.

First, the Youth Symphony Orchestra will present masterpieces such as ‘Prokofiev Symphony,’ ‘Telemann Viola Concerto,’ and ‘Haydn Cello Concerto’ through a collaboration of skilled members playing violin, viola, cello, flute, and more.

Led by conductor Yang Il-oh, the Public Symphony Orchestra will offer charming melodies including ‘The Sold Bride,’ ‘Czardas,’ and the main theme from the movie 'Star Wars.'

The Silver Choir will also deliver moving performances with beautiful lyrics and melodies such as ‘Come Follow Me,’ ‘Ubi Caritas,’ and ‘Autumn Flowers.’

The Public Choir will add beautiful harmony by combining familiar and popular songs like ‘Greeting,’ ‘Things That Are Natural,’ and ‘Champions’ with instrumental collaborations including cello and violin.

Lastly, the Folk Arts Group will perform a percussion show titled ‘The Resonance of Songpa,’ expressing hopes to overcome COVID-19 through drum sounds, and a dynamic dance performance titled ‘The Spirit of Songpa,’ embodying energetic vitality through dance.

Due to COVID-19, on-site attendance at this year-end concert is limited to performers’ families only. Instead, all residents can safely and comfortably enjoy the performance via live broadcast on the Songpa TV YouTube channel.

Mayor Park Seong-su of Songpa-gu said, “I hope everyone enjoys a happy year-end by appreciating the beautiful harmony of cultural arts at the long-awaited 'Year-end Concert of the Public Cultural and Arts Groups.' We will continue to revitalize the public cultural and arts groups to further enhance the prestige of ‘Songpa, the City of Culture and Arts.’”

Yangcheon-gu Office (Mayor Kim Soo-young) will hold the ‘2021 Yangcheon Light Festival’ for 46 days from the lighting ceremony at 5:30 p.m. on the 16th until January 30 next year at the outdoor water tank of the Seo Seoul Arts Education Center (64-2 Nambusunhwan-ro 64-gil).

The ‘2021 Yangcheon Light Festival’ is part of the representative festival of Yangcheon-gu, the ‘Haewoori Cultural Festival,’ featuring the district’s mascot ‘Haewoori.’ This year, to prevent the spread of COVID-19, the festival will be an exhibition-type event where visitors can enjoy hanji (traditional Korean paper) sculptures and lighting artworks.

The festival space is composed of four themes: ▲Whirlwind of Light ▲Forest of Coexistence ▲Dream of the Stump ▲Sea of Empathy, offering various attractions such as about 5,000 shining fish and a giant whale sculpture, all themed around coexistence with nature.

Additionally, a participatory event will be held where visitors who take photos with the Haewoori mascot sculpture and upload them on social media with designated hashtags will receive a small souvenir, limited to the first 50 participants.

Mayor Kim Soo-young of Yangcheon-gu said, “Through this year’s light festival, we aimed to metaphorically express all of us who are enduring the crisis by gathering wisdom and strength despite the hardships caused by COVID-19. Moreover, this festival is especially meaningful as the water tank, which supplied water to Yangcheon-gu and Gangseo-gu from 1979 to 2003, has been reborn as a festival venue supplying culture and arts through light. We hope residents will take great interest so that this can be a heartwarming time to comfort difficult times by viewing the brightly shining sculptures in the darkness.”

This festival will offer richer attractions with support from Seoul City’s autonomous district festival funding and cooperation from the Seo Seoul Arts Education Center, and will be held in compliance with COVID-19 prevention guidelines.

The festival runs daily from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. until January 30 next year.

Dongdaemun-gu (Mayor Yoo Deok-yeol) will hold an online ‘2022 Final Regular Admission Strategy Briefing’ for examinees and parents at 7 p.m. on the 20th.

The Dongdaemun Admission Counseling Center explained that due to the regional spread of COVID-19, most admission briefings have been canceled or reduced, causing difficulties for examinees and parents, which led to the decision to hold the briefing online.

This briefing will cover topics such as regular admission strategies by score range based on the 2021 admission results and strategies for the 2022 regular admission. Especially in the With-Corona era, it will provide customized support strategies and post-SAT university application strategies to offer practical help to examinees amid increasingly diverse admission processes.

The ‘2022 Final Regular Admission Strategy Briefing’ will be available for viewing by anyone from the 20th via the Dongdaemun Admission Counseling Center website and Dongdaemun-gu Office YouTube channel. Those who make reservations can receive placement charts and materials at home in advance. Reservations are available through the Dongdaemun Admission Counseling Center website.

Additionally, the Dongdaemun Admission Counseling Center plans to provide personalized 1:1 intensive consulting by experienced current teachers from the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education’s University Admission Guidance Support Group until December 31, the last day of this year.

Mayor Yoo Deok-yeol of Dongdaemun-gu said, “We prepared this regular admission strategy briefing to alleviate the difficulties faced by examinees and parents due to frequent class interruptions and admission variables caused by the unprecedented prolonged COVID-19 pandemic. We will continue to provide various admission programs to reduce private education costs and increase admission rates, striving to make Dongdaemun-gu a leading educational city for the future society.”

The Dongdaemun Admission Counseling Center, jointly operated by Dongdaemun-gu and the admission specialist company Uway, offers free customized admission counseling to all Dongdaemun-gu residents.

Yeongdeungpo-gu (Mayor Chae Hyun-il) announced the ‘Yeongdeungpo Top 10 News’ selected by voting for the projects that gained the most empathy from residents and staff throughout 2021.

The Top 10 News were chosen from major projects carried out during the year that led to positive changes in residents’ lives, aiming to raise interest in district achievements and provide opportunities for communication.

The ‘Yeongdeungpo Top 10 News’ were selected through voting held for seven days from November 29 to December 5 on the district website and the exclusive portal system for public officials.

A total of 1,029 people participated, including 648 residents and 381 staff members. Each person could vote for up to three projects, resulting in a total of 2,618 votes.

The project ranked first with 441 votes (16.84%) was the ‘Red-light District Redevelopment’ project. This project redevelops the red-light district in front of Yeongdeungpo Station to supply about 1,500 apartment units, officetels, and commercial facilities. After establishing the redevelopment plan, a professional management service for establishing the association is underway, with completion expected around 2028.

Next, the ‘Yeongjung-ro and Yeongdeungpo-ro Pedestrian-friendly Street Creation Project’ ranked second with 396 votes (15.13%). It was recognized for creating pleasant walking paths through street vendor regulation and flowerbed installation around Yeongdeungpo Market intersection, along with replacing street trees and signs.

The third place was the ‘Zero Won Market,’ which received 244 votes (9.32%). The ‘Zero Won Market’ is a store where economically struggling residents can take food and daily necessities worth about 30,000 KRW per month for free. It has been praised domestically and internationally for providing quick and direct support to residents facing livelihood difficulties due to COVID-19 and for alleviating welfare blind spots.

The fourth place with 181 votes (6.91%) was the ‘Mobile Screening Clinics and Vaccination Centers,’ which gained much empathy for improving convenience by allowing COVID-19 testing and vaccination at the same location.

Following these, the fifth place was the first-ever lifelong education voucher support in Seoul; sixth was the completion of the Anyangcheon Comprehensive Sports Belt; seventh was the environmental improvement of Yeongdeungpo Traditional Market and Yeongdeungpo Wholesale Market; eighth was the hosting of the open Yeongdeungpo 3 Major Forums; ninth was the groundbreaking of the Singil Cultural Sports Library; and tenth was the operation of the COVID-19 Vaccination Center.

Mayor Chae Hyun-il of Yeongdeungpo-gu said, “The Top 10 News are the fruits of efforts supported and cooperated by both residents and staff with one heart. Next year, we will continue to create changes and leaps in Yeongdeungpo-gu through life-centered policies that residents can feel.”

Gwanak-gu (Mayor Park Jun-hee) announced that the Gwanak-gu Ombudsman, actively working as representatives of residents, has concluded its activities for 2021.

The Gwanak-gu Ombudsman is an organization that protects residents’ rights by monitoring district administration from the residents’ perspective, improving illegal or unfair administrative actions and unreasonable administrative systems, and handling grievance complaints that cause inconvenience to residents.

Introduced and implemented since 2012, the Ombudsman has played a key role as a problem solver by promptly addressing issues arising between residents and administrative agencies from a neutral standpoint.

Composed of three experts in administration, architecture, and law, the Gwanak-gu Ombudsman handled a total of 22 agenda items this year, including monthly regular meetings, on-site investigations of grievance complaints, audits, and monitoring and evaluation of integrity contracts.

In particular, in April, they conducted an on-site investigation to resolve residents’ inconvenience caused by insufficient rainwater drains around Dang-gok Middle and High Schools in Boramae-dong during rainfall, collaborating with related departments to expand rainwater drains and improve waterways, thereby resolving the complaints.

Besides this, they have listened to residents’ voices in various fields closely related to daily life such as roads, parks, and sewage, and have worked to handle grievance complaints through administrative recommendations and expression of opinions.

The 2021 Gwanak-gu Ombudsman Activity Report, which summarizes these various activities throughout the year, will be produced in December and posted on the Gwanak-gu Office website.

An official from the district said, “Although there were many difficulties in activities due to the prolonged COVID-19 pandemic, we made efforts for thorough on-site investigations and fair handling with a strong will to actively resolve grievance complaints. We will continue to do our best to be a trusted Ombudsman for residents.”

Gangdong-gu (Mayor Lee Jung-hoon) won the Director’s Award of the Korea Craft & Design Foundation in the non-competition category of the ‘2021 Korea Public Design Awards,’ hosted by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and organized by the Korea Craft & Design Foundation, for the ‘Gangdong Safe Return Home Street Design Manual Expansion Project.’

Now in its 14th year, the ‘Korea Public Design Awards’ is a representative contest in the public design field held annually to discover exemplary cases of public design and present desirable standards to lay the foundation for public design.

The non-competition category, in which Gangdong-gu was selected, was newly established in 2019 to actively discover excellent public design cases that are difficult to select through competitions. This year, awardees were chosen based on outstanding public design projects that contributed to realizing public design enhancing safety in daily life.

The ‘Safe Return Home Street Design Manual Expansion Project’ received high evaluation for contributing to creating a safe village by establishing a crime prevention environment that preemptively blocks crimes in secluded alleys. Notably, the project developed a separate Gangdong-type Safe Return Home Street Design Manual and was promoted through collaboration with the Gangdong Police Station, related experts, and residents, which was highly praised.

Mayor Lee Jung-hoon of Gangdong-gu said, “The award-winning ‘Gangdong Safe Return Home Street Expansion Project’ is especially meaningful as a public-private cooperative project involving experts and residents. We will continue to identify areas prone to crime such as secluded alleys and actively apply the Safe Return Home Street design.”