Exploring new possibilities for community care under the theme "Peek-a-boo, A City Standing by Youth Minds" on November 3

The Sejong City Culture and Tourism Foundation (CEO Park Young-guk) announced that it will host the "2026 Sejong Youth Cultural Prescription First Forum — Peek-a-boo, A City Standing by Youth Minds" at the Namsejong General Youth Center on November 3 (Tuesday). This forum was prepared to share the promotion process and regional cooperation cases of Sejong's first-ever youth cultural prescription initiative with citizens.

The forum is part of the "2026 Community Healing Cooperation Model Construction - Mind Healing, Like Summer," an initiative promoted by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and the Korea Arts & Culture Education Service. This year, four regional culture and tourism foundations nationwide—including the Sejong City Culture and Tourism Foundation, Gyeonggi Cultural Foundation, Gyeongnam Culture and Arts Foundation, and Gwangju Cultural Foundation—were selected to develop customized regional healing cooperation models linking culture and arts with local care resources.

The Foundation is promoting "BBE-Come: Peek-a-boo," a Sejong-style cultural prescription model designed to help youths recover psychologically and emotionally. "Peek-a-boo" signifies opening the door of the heart just a little bit. Rather than replacing conventional counseling or therapy, it supports youth in self-expression, relationship-building, and everyday recovery through arts and cultural activities such as psychodrama and culinary humanities.

To achieve this, the Foundation formed the "Sejong Youth Culture Healing Regional Cooperation Governance Consultative Body" in April with local mental health, counseling, and educational institutions, and developed two types of cultural prescription programs through expert consultations and workshops. Since September, the programs have been operated in connection with four schools within the district for youths and parents.

In Part 1 of the forum, titled "Four Perspectives to Understand the Minds of Youth," four experts in mental health, social prescription, culture and arts, and youth fields will present. Professor Won Geun-hee of the Department of Psychiatry at Sejong Chungnam National University Hospital (Head of the Sejong Student Mental Health Support Center) will present on the current status of Sejong youth mental health and regional care tasks. Ju Hana, an adjunct professor at Hongik University Graduate School of Education (Director of the PSDI Psychosocial Design Research Institute), will present on the regional implementation system of cultural prescriptions.

Following them, literary critic Ko Young-jik will speak on the role of culture in restoring relationships and dignity, and Lee Seung-hoon, director of the Gongneung Youth Culture and Information Center, will discuss the necessity of community cooperation for youth.

In Part 2, a discussion titled "Standing by Youth Minds: Finding the Path of Care Together," youth, parents, school and mental health institution officials, and arts mediators will gather in one place. Based on the presentations in Part 1, participants will explore the direction of care where the local community can stand together by the side of youth minds.

As a citizen participation program, psychodrama and culinary humanities workshops will be operated so that citizens can directly experience cultural prescriptions. An exhibition titled "Peek-a-boo, Map of Vicinity," which showcases the support resources of local education, counseling, and mental health institutions at a glance, will also be prepared.

A Foundation official stated, "We hope this forum will serve as an opportunity to share the role of culture and arts in youth mental recovery with citizens and for various local organizations to cooperate together."

The event will run from 1 PM to 6 PM on November 3 (Tuesday), and youths, parents, related organization workers, and the general public can participate. Citizen participation workshops are available through advance application (https://naver.me/5p0ZCClh), and application methods and detailed information can be found on the Foundation's website. For further details, please contact the Everyday Culture Team of the Sejong City Culture and Tourism Foundation (044-850-0551).

[ⓒ Global Economic Times. 무단전재-재배포 금지]