Jung-gu, Seoul's "Jeongdong Night Tour" Wins Excellence Award for Cultural Governance

Resident-Led Cooperative Festival Model Recognized

Jung-gu, Seoul (Mayor Kim Gilsung) announced on January 4 that it has received the Excellence Award in the cultural governance category at the 1st Cultural Policy Concerto, thanks to the Jeongdong Night Tour, Korea’s first cultural heritage night festival.

Last year, Kim Gilsung, Mayor of Jung-gu, greeted visitors at Jeongdong Night Tour. Courtesy of Jung-gu.

At this event, organized by the Korea Manifesto Implementation Headquarters, Jung-gu was recognized for the excellence of its resident-led cooperative festival model. The Cultural Policy Concerto was established to discover and share outstanding cases of local cultural policies. Under the theme “Culture, City, and Resilience,” 85 local governments nationwide submitted 160 cases to compete in this year’s event.

Jung-gu received high praise for successfully operating the Jeongdong Night Tour through resident-centered cultural governance and for enhancing the policy’s overall quality.

The Jeongdong Night Tour, launched in 2015, is Korea’s first cultural heritage night festival. It has introduced a new model for enjoying culture by re-highlighting the modern and contemporary cultural heritage of Deoksugung Stone Wall Road and the Jeongdong area during nighttime hours. Having established itself as a cooperative festival planned and operated by residents, cultural artists, private organizations, and experts-rather than being administration-centered-it is now regarded as a leading example of cultural governance.

The district has worked to continuously utilize local cultural assets, expand resident participation, build a foundation for public-private cooperation, and create a sustainable local cultural ecosystem by connecting with local businesses through the Jeongdong Night Tour. As a result, it has grown into one of Korea’s leading cultural festivals, attracting a cumulative total of 1.26 million visitors from 2015 through last year.

This year, the Jeongdong Night Tour will be held on an autumn evening in October. The district also plans to promote a nighttime landscape improvement project with the Jeongdong Council to keep the nights of Jeongdong illuminated year-round.

Mayor Kim Gilsung stated, “This award is the result of our cultural policies to protect and nurture local cultural assets together with residents through the Jeongdong Night Tour. Moving forward, we will continue to develop cultural policies that keep Jung-gu’s unique history and stories alive, so that residents feel proud and citizens are inspired to revisit our cultural city.”