Gwangju City "Searching for the Second Pengsoo"... Omana Public Audition Held

Gwangju City Hall

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Park Seon-gang] Gwangju Metropolitan City announced on the 21st that it will select the actor for the Gwangju Culture and Tourism Character ‘Omaena’ through a public audition open to the entire nation at 3 p.m. on the 22nd.

A total of 16 applicants from their 20s to 60s applied during the 21-day recruitment period that started at the end of last month. Among them, 7 were female applicants, including some with unique backgrounds such as graduates from the Shchukin Theatre Institute in Russia.

The audition will be held for 3 hours as the second part of the ‘Chungjang22’ opening ceremony. The judging will be conducted in two rounds: the first round by experts and the second round by a citizen evaluation panel consisting of 20 members, with the final selection made through electronic public voting.

In the first round, applicants will reveal their faces and compete in a ‘talent battle’ including dancing, singing, and composing three-line acrostic poems. In the second round, the final two selected from the first round will wear the Omaena mascot costume and engage in a free expression contest.

The Omaena actor will be active both online and offline, including on YouTube and social networking services (SNS), to raise awareness of Gwangju Culture and Tourism Omaena.

In particular, activities will include ▲ talk concerts with idol stars linked to K-POP ▲ tourism reporter roles ▲ production of electronic dance music (EDM) and cover dances ▲ operation of a Gwangju 7 Delicacies mukbang corner.

Meanwhile, Gwangju City plans to develop and distribute six types of Omaena character tourism promotional products to submit to the ‘2020 Good Design Product Selection’ design award hosted by the Korea Institute of Design Promotion, with applications accepted until next month. They will also temporarily waive usage fees for profit-making businesses using Omaena until the end of the year to reduce the economic burden on the industry caused by the prolonged COVID-19 pandemic.

Additionally, active promotion will be carried out through ▲ design of tourism souvenirs, Namdo Pass, Hanpay card ▲ virtual reality (VR) tourism content ▲ Gwangju marketing youth trucks to promote the seven representative foods of Gwangju.

Kim Jun-young, Director of the Culture, Tourism and Sports Office of Gwangju City, said, “We will promote innovative marketing reflecting current trends by linking the Gwangju Culture and Tourism Character ‘Omaena’ to new future food businesses in Gwangju to nurture it as the second Pengsoo. We will focus on revitalizing Gwangju culture, tourism, and the local economy.”

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.