Gyeonggi Province Selects Five Cities Including Yongin for Cultural Autonomy Activation Project

[Suwon Ilbo=Reporter Park No-hun] Gyeonggi Province announced the results of its public contest for the '2022 Gyeonggi Province Cultural Autonomy Activation Project,' selecting five locations including Yongin, Yangju, Uijeongbu, Osan, and Icheon to establish a foundation for 'cultural autonomy' with direct local resident participation.

The 'Gyeonggi Province Cultural Autonomy Activation Project' involves establishing and implementing public-private collaborative communities through mutual cooperation among cities and counties, local cultural and arts institutions and organizations based in the regions, and local residents. The province will provide up to 200 million won per city/county (including 100 million won in provincial funds).

The province enacted Korea's first Cultural Autonomy Basic Ordinance in July 2021 and decided to provide final support to five cities following its inaugural implementation of the cultural autonomy activation contest this year.

The selected cities and counties will implement projects in three areas—▲establishing institutional foundations for cultural autonomy ▲enhancing capacity for cultural autonomy ▲expanding cultural autonomy activities—through an 'autonomous planning project' format in which they independently plan and propose projects centered on their regions.

Commonly, they aim to form cooperation councils not led by the government but by local collaborative organizations and diverse residents volunteering to directly plan cultural autonomy activities and create sustainable local cultural ecosystems together with their respective cities and counties.

Yongin City aims to realize cultural autonomy in which individual and regional characteristics are expressed by combining citizen technology that connects people and activities and transforms imagination into reality, under the theme of 'cultural ecosystem cultivated together through living labs of citizen technology.'

Yangju City plans projects aimed at 'Cultural City Yangju Created Together with Citizens,' establishing institutional foundations for spreading and strengthening cultural autonomy in Yangju and substantively realizing cultural autonomy through enhanced capacity of cultural actors.

Uijeongbu City pursues 'A City Uijeongbu Where Citizens' Will Creates a Place Worth Staying,' implementing citizen-led, citizen-benefiting projects including the establishment of public-private governance structures and '333 Social Fiction' in which citizens prepare for and imagine the city's future.

Osan City launches the 'Osan Cultural Autonomy Project, Starting Today ONE,' engaging in communication through diverse channels and meeting opportunities including workshops with collaborative organizations as well as leading organizations, promoting cultural autonomy activation under the theme that the true protagonist of culture is the citizen.

Icheon City, in collaboration with neighborhood councils and local culture governance, presented various cultural and arts activities to enhance resident welfare, including culture projects that preserve local character and public art and artistic creation that can culturally address local issues.

Kim Young-tae, Director of the Culture and Sports Division of Gyeonggi Province, stated, "Through this project, provincial residents will become active participants in diverse cultural activities, and the province will realize cultural autonomy as administration and local residents are connected through culture. We hope to actively provide administrative support and expand it across all 31 cities and counties going forward."