Incheon, the Birthplace of Popular Music... Aiming to Become a 'Music City' by 2025

Establishment of a Master Plan for Fostering Living Music, Music Industry, and Music Festivals
Building Music Industry Infrastructure Including Music Creation Studio and Art Center Incheon Phase 2
Branding Music Festivals and Creating Musician Residency at Camp Market

A bird's-eye view of 'Art Center Incheon.' On the left is the concert hall opened in the first phase in 2018, and next to it, the museum and opera house are planned to be built as part of the second phase project. [Provided by Incheon Free Economic Zone Authority]

[Asia Economy Reporter Park Hyesook] Incheon City will invest 354.4 billion KRW by 2025 to create a 'Music City.'

On the 14th, the city announced that it has prepared the 'Music City Incheon Master Plan' to promote the activation of everyday music for citizens, establish a music industry ecosystem, and pursue urban regeneration linked to music.

First, aiming for music shared in daily life, street performance zones will be designated throughout the city so that citizens can enjoy various performances in their daily lives. Musicians with musical talent will be selected and supported through an artist certification system to revitalize street performances.

Starting next year, various citizen participation competitions such as choral festivals, musical instrument contests, and citizen creative song festivals will be held. An amateur orchestra festival will also be organized to expand performance opportunities for youth and university orchestras in the region.

Efforts will also focus on building a music industry foundation so that musicians can work and grow locally.

By December next year, a music creation center will be opened at the Bupyeong US military base (Camp Market), planned to become the mecca of music creation in Incheon, covering everything from creative planning to album production, distribution, and performances. An academy for training music industry professionals will be established, and a municipal gugak orchestra will be founded to support professional gugak musicians.

The second phase of 'Art Center Incheon,' which includes constructing an opera house and museum in Songdo International City, will begin construction in 2023 with the goal of completion in the first half of 2025. The aging Incheon Culture & Arts Center will be fully remodeled to transform it into a more audience-friendly performance venue.

Additionally, existing individual music festivals such as the Pentaport Rock Festival, Jazz Festival, and INK (Incheon K-pop) Concert will be concentrated in August and September to commercialize music content as cultural (tourism) products and enhance the brand value as a music city.

Alongside this, the city plans to attract the National Korean Popular Music Archive (tentative name), equipped with exhibition halls, performance venues, and storage facilities for Korean popular music, to Camp Market. A musician residency, serving as a creative and rehearsal space, will also be created to further revitalize the original downtown area through music.

Incheon was the birthplace and main stage of Korean popular music in the 1950s and 1960s, as various Western popular music genres such as pop, rock and roll, and jazz were introduced through the Bupyeong US military base.

In the 1970s and 1980s, the industrial complex area was a cradle for people's songs, and based on this, the 1990s saw the formation of a rock band town centered around Gwanggyo-dong and Dongincheon, gaining nationwide fame. Recently, with the successful hosting of the Pentaport Rock Festival and INK, it has grown into a global music festival city.

An Incheon city official said, "Based on Incheon's musical history and potential, we have established a master plan to harmoniously foster everyday music, the music industry, and music festivals. We will implement this step by step to expand citizens' cultural enjoyment, create a foundation for local musicians' activities, and enhance the brand value as a music city."

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