[Exclusive] Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism Considers Expanding 'Youth Culture and Arts Pass' to Include Movies Following Concerts and Festivals

Possibility of Including Films Next Year
Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism: "Will Consider for Next Year's Main Project"
Unused Passes to Be Reclaimed by June This Year
Music Festivals and Concerts Now Eligible
Insufficient Nationwide Promotion Remains an Issue

In a stagnant performance market, government support such as the Youth Culture and Arts Pass is encouraging, but there are ongoing opinions that more effective support must back it up. While the intention to provide many young people with opportunities to enjoy culture and arts, thereby increasing life satisfaction and revitalizing the cultural and arts industry, is commendable, concerns have been raised that without appropriate institutional implementation plans, only budget input may occur without achieving results.

Yoon In-chon, Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism, is taking a commemorative photo with users of the Youth Culture and Arts Pass after watching the "Going Home Project: Beethoven Complete Works Series 2" performance at the Seoul Arts Center in Seocho-gu, Seoul on July 17 last year. Photo by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism

The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism made several changes to the application process for the 2025 Youth Culture and Arts Pass, accepting applications from June 6 to May 31, to make up for last year's poor project performance. Last year, applications were accepted through Interpark and Yes24, but this year, applicants must sign up as members on those ticketing sites and then apply through a separately established Youth Culture and Arts Pass website. This change aims to enhance overall project management capabilities and enable swift responses. A Ministry official in charge of the Youth Culture and Arts Pass explained, "Last year, we received user registration and usage information from the ticketing sites, but this year, we will directly monitor this information more actively."

To address the issue of unused passes after issuance, starting this year, unused passes within the validity period will be reclaimed. The Ministry plans to reclaim passes that have never been used by June and reissue them until all are distributed. However, concerns remain that this may not be very effective. Last year, only Seoul among the 17 metropolitan cities and provinces reached a first-come, first-served limit, with a nationwide average issuance rate of 80%. Most regions except Seoul recorded undersubscription, with Gyeonggi Province (targeting 44,300 people) having an issuance rate of 84%, and Jeju Province (targeting 2,400 people) at 59%. Therefore, increasing actual usage rates is considered important.

Experts suggest expanding the eligible age group to increase usage rates. The Ministry set the usage age at 19 based on overseas cases (Italy, France, etc.), but experts explain that broadening the age range aligns with the goal of cultivating potential cultural audiences and helps increase actual usage.

Lee Jong-gyu, director of the Korea Musical Association, said, "Limiting it to 19 years old makes the target too small, and unless one is a fan, it is difficult to attend performances alone. There are many restrictions on going with friends, and it is rare to travel from provinces to Seoul for viewing," diagnosing that "measures to improve convenience of use are needed."

The limitation of the viewing scope mainly to pure arts is also pointed out as an obstacle. Initially, the Youth Culture and Arts Pass was only usable for theater, musicals, classical music, opera, ballet, dance, Korean traditional music, and exhibitions, but since last November, concerts and music festivals were added, and the usage period was extended to February 28 of this year, yet it did not show significant effects. The addition of the film genre, mentioned by former Minister Yoo In-chon as a plan last year, was not realized this year. Films are evaluated as having good regional accessibility and can create a win-win situation with the film industry, which is struggling with declining audiences. A Ministry official said, "We will conduct a pilot project until this year and actively reflect this in the main project next year."

Securing nationwide promotional capabilities is also emerging as an important task. Nationwide promotion requires a considerable budget, but the current operating budget for the Youth Culture and Arts Pass, including promotional expenses, is set at 1 billion KRW. Director Lee said, "Nationwide projects require a lot of promotional costs. For example, to consume 10 billion KRW only in Seoul, about 1 billion KRW is needed for promotion, and at least 3 billion KRW is required nationwide," expressing concern that "if promotion is insufficient, young people may not be well aware of the system."

The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism stated that after conducting the pilot project this year, it will prepare various changes for the main project. A Ministry official emphasized, "Although we set the target age at 19 based on overseas cases, this is not an absolute standard. In next year's main project, there is a possibility of expanding the target to reflect user preferences, and we are also considering adding genres such as films. We also plan to strengthen promotion through places where young people gather and social networking services (SNS)."