Gwangju 'Permanent Performances' Abolished... Still a Cultural City?

No Budget Allocated for Next Year's Program Operation
Kim Nayun, Gwangju City Council Member, Urges Caution

Kim Nayoon, Gwangju City Council Member.

The "Permanent Performances," which have provided cultural enjoyment opportunities to the citizens of Gwangju, are expected to be discontinued. According to the 2025 main budget proposal submitted by Gwangju City, no budget has been allocated for the permanent performances held at the Sangmu District Performance Maru.

On the 3rd, Kim Nayoon, a member of the Gwangju City Council (Democratic Party·Buk-gu 6), expressed concern during the 2025 main budget review of the Gwangju City Culture and Sports Office, stating, "A sudden abolition of the 'Permanent Performances,' which have provided high-quality performances to citizens, without any countermeasures, undermines the prestige of Gwangju as a cultural city."

First introduced in 2019, the "Permanent Performances" involved eight groups from the Gwangju Municipal Art Troupe and private art groups, meeting audiences every Saturday and Sunday at the Gwangju Performance Maru. This year, 107 free performances were held, providing cultural experience opportunities to 11,720 citizens as of October.

The city allocated 2.554 billion KRW for operating the permanent performances last year and 1.114 billion KRW this year, but no budget has been allocated for the project next year.

Councilor Kim emphasized, "There is a need to make changes to the program and operation so that the permanent performances can gradually establish themselves as a representative brand of Gwangju," adding, "Permanent performances are a project that contributes not only to leisure provision but also to enhancing the city's brand value and citizens' happiness index."

Kim also pointed out, "Before deciding to abolish the project, no citizen feedback such as a status survey or satisfaction survey to set the project direction was conducted," and criticized, "Abolishing the project due to budget shortages without any future plans is a shameful administration for a cultural city."

Meanwhile, during this year's administrative audit, Councilor Kim urged Gwangju City to explore regional win-win activation measures, including reviewing the possibility of charging admission fees with a system that gives local gift certificates equivalent to the ticket price to prevent no-shows and revitalize permanent performances.

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