"Building Competitive Festivals": Inje County Opens Applications for Local Festival Support Program

【Financial News Inje=Kim Gi-seop】Inje County is inviting applications for next year’s local festival support program to develop competitive festivals that highlight the region’s unique characteristics.
According to Inje County on the 8th, applications for the 2027 Inje County Local Festival Support Program will be accepted through the 23rd. Eligible applicants are corporations or organizations based in Inje County. The program covers festivals designated under the Inje County Festival Promotion and Support Ordinance that currently receive, or seek to receive, county funding, including national and provincial funds. Applicants must prepare and submit the application form, organization profile, business plan and other required documents.
Recipients will be selected following deliberation by a review committee. For new festivals, the committee’s evaluation will account for 100% of the assessment. For existing festivals in their second or third year, the assessment will combine the previous year’s performance evaluation and the committee’s evaluation, each weighted at 50%. For existing festivals in their fourth year or later, the committee will review whether continued support should be provided.
The review will comprehensively assess the festival’s planning objectives and content, operating plan and growth potential, as well as the quality and distinctiveness of its signature programs and its links to local cultural and tourism resources. Other key criteria include the level of resident participation, the independence of the festival organization, financial self-reliance and experience in organizing festivals.
New festivals must have been held independently at least once to be eligible to apply. Even if a festival has been held before, it will be treated as a new festival if it applies under a changed name or with substantially different main content. In that case, it may apply beginning the year after it has been held at least once. The same standard applies when a festival whose previous support ended under a sunset provision reapplies under the same format.
An Inje County official said, "Through this application process, we plan to identify festivals that make use of the region’s unique cultural and tourism resources and develop them into sustainable local festivals with strong resident participation and self-sustainability."

[email protected] Kim Gi-seop Reporter