Gyeonggi-do to Launch Pilot Project for Cultural Autonomy Activation Starting Next Year

[Asia Economy (Suwon) = Reporter Lee Young-gyu] Gyeonggi Province will promote the 'Cultural Autonomy Activation Pilot Project' as a new project next year.

On the 10th, Gyeonggi Province announced that following the enactment of the 'Gyeonggi-do Cultural Autonomy Basic Ordinance' on the 14th of last month?the first in the nation to establish a participation base for various cultural actors including residents in the decision-making and execution process of cultural policies?it will promote projects to establish a foundation for cultural autonomy, strengthen capabilities, and activate it.

The main projects include the pilot operation of city and county cultural autonomy centers to activate and support cultural autonomy, and a cultural cooperation network that supports cultural autonomy activities and exchanges. Additionally, it will promote education to strengthen cultural citizen capabilities, training for cultural autonomy activists, and regionally proposed specialized projects (planned and proposed autonomously with the region as the center).

Accordingly, from the 10th of this month, the province has started a demand survey on the cultural autonomy activation pilot project targeting 31 cities and counties. Based on this survey, the province plans to reflect the promoted projects in next year’s budget.

The province will specifically select these cultural autonomy-related implementation tasks together with cities, counties, and basic cultural foundations at the '2021 Gyeonggi Cultural Arts Policy Festival' to be held in October. In particular, on the last day of the festival, it will also announce the vision and implementation tasks of 'Cultural Autonomy, a New Gyeonggi Province.'

Kim Jin-gi, Director of the Gyeonggi Province Culture, Sports and Tourism Bureau, said, "With the enactment of this ordinance and the pilot project, we expect Gyeonggi Province to play a leading role in establishing an autonomous regional cultural ecosystem," and added, "We hope for much interest and participation in the pilot operation of city and county cultural autonomy centers."

Earlier, according to the Gyeonggi Province Cultural Arts Promotion Mid- to Long-Term Comprehensive Plan (2020?2024), which surveyed 1,500 Gyeonggi residents in October 2019, 58.5% of residents recognized culture and arts as important compared to other areas such as the economy, but only 4.9% of residents answered that they had experience participating in the cultural policy-making process.

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