From the 14th to 17th in Sinchon area, foreign exchange students, foreign embassy performance teams in Korea, and domestic university cheer squads captivate with 'Opening Parade,' 'The World is One Bibimbap Performance,' 'World Cooking Contest,' and 'K-Beauty Show'
Under the clear autumn sky, a passionate festival created by young people from home and abroad unfolds in Sinchon, Seoul’s Seodaemun-gu, the street of youth and romance.
Seodaemun-gu (Mayor Lee Seongheon) will hold the ‘2023 Sinchon World Youth Festival’ (Sinchon World Youth Festival: SWYFT) from the 14th to the 17th in the Sinchon area, including Yonsei-ro, Myeongmul Street, and Changcheon Culture Park, with participation from international students, foreign embassies in Korea, universities, and the local community.
The district planned the festival under the catchphrase ‘Global Wave, Sinchon Vibe’ with the concepts of ▲meeting of young passion and intellect ▲empathy and solidarity across all generations ▲cultural coexistence with foreigners.
First, on the 14th from 7:00 PM to 8:30 PM, conductor Ham Shin-ik and the orchestra ‘Symphony Song’ will open the festival with a celebratory performance at Sinchon Star Square.
On a unique mobile stage using a wing-body truck, a 45-member orchestra and vocalists will present a variety of musical repertoires including the university festival overture, Pomp and Circumstance March, Slavic Dance, Oh My Sunshine, Dynamite, Shutdown, and more to the audience.
On the 15th from 6:00 PM to 7:00 PM, the festival’s ‘Opening Parade’ will take place along approximately 500 meters of Yonsei-ro, featuring about 40 countries’ international students, performance teams from foreign embassies in Korea, cheerleading squads from Yonsei University, Ewha Womans University, and Sogang University, as well as domestic university students.
Following the parade, the opening ceremony and celebratory performances (classical, band, dance, DJing, etc.) will continue on the main stage at Star Square until 9:00 PM.
The opening ceremony will include a welcome speech by student representatives, congratulatory speeches by foreign ambassadors in Korea and university presidents, and an opening performance by the Seodaemun-gu mayor and guests. Before the parade, the ‘Seodaemun-gu Junior Wind Orchestra,’ consisting of 60 members, will perform.
On the 16th, from 1:00 PM to 9:00 PM, attendees can enjoy ▲Sinchon Good Job Job Concert ▲Grass ‘Youth Concert’ traveling with songs ▲K-Beauty show ‘Sinchon Persona’ featuring makeup and styling experiences ▲Person-Love-Work (事) Sa·Sa·Sa Talk Concert ▲K-pop dance performances in succession.
On the final day of the festival, the 17th, from 11:00 AM to 9:00 PM, events include ▲‘The World is One’ Bibimbap Performance ▲World Cooking Contest judged by chefs Yeo Kyung-rae and Mikael ▲Youth Empathy Talk Show hosted by broadcaster Tyler ▲Student participation performances ▲Closing ceremony ▲Sinchon VIBE Concert.
The ‘Sinchon VIBE Concert,’ which soothes the sadness of the festival’s closing, will be richly composed of performances by Yonsei University’s Akaraka cheerleading squad, K-pop dance, rock bands, hip-hop, b-boying, and DJing.
In addition to these main stage events, on the weekend of the 16th and 17th, various events such as ▲audience mini-games ▲youth and university student performances ▲Seodaemun Youth Fight Dance Competition ▲drone experiences ▲Sinchon Marble board games ▲Sinchon Film Festival ▲Sinchon Merchants Association’s Sinchon Archive (photo exhibition) ▲Masked Singer singing contest ▲e-sports games can be enjoyed throughout Sinchon.
Also, at the festival venues on the 16th and 17th, the ▲Global Zone ▲World Food Zone ▲University Zone ▲Youth Zone will be operated.
In the ‘Global Zone,’ over 50 promotional booths run by embassies and domestic foreign student communities will offer traditional costume experiences, traditional music busking, and exhibitions of crafts and cultural tourism content.
The ‘World Food Zone’ consists of about 30 booths involving embassies, foreign student communities, local merchants’ associations, and foreign chefs.
Both the ‘University Zone’ and ‘Youth Zone’ will have 50 booths each, featuring various university majors and club introductions, youth startup product exhibitions, MBTI-based world travel recommendations, and VR world travel experiences.
This event, held for the first time this year, especially involves a central planning team and working group composed of university students from Kyonggi University, Myongji University, Sogang University, Digital Seoul Culture & Arts University, Yonsei University, Ewha Womans University, and others, participating in planning and overall operations, raising expectations for greater youth engagement.
About 60 stores in the Sinchon shopping district are also participating in this festival. Visitors to stores displaying festival posters during the event period can receive discount services.
Lee Seongheon, mayor of Seodaemun-gu, said, “We expect Sinchon, where many universities are densely located, to be utilized as one campus, becoming a place where young university students from Korea and around the world exchange diverse cultural contents from various countries.”
For more details, visit the Sinchon World Youth Festival website or contact the Culture and Sports Division of Seodaemun-gu Office.
The district also prepared a festival SNS promotion event. By posting promotional content on their SNS including hashtags (#SinchonGlobalUniversityCultureFestival, #SWYFT, #SinchonFestival, #SinchonDate, #SinchonHotPlace) and submitting the SNS link as an entry, participants can win mobile gift certificates through a draw.
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