The Chungnam Culture and Tourism Foundation (Acting President Lee Han-soo) successfully hosted the "2026 Chungnam Youth Art Festa, Call me ART = [?]" over a three-day period from October 16 (Fri) to October 18 (Sun) around Nakseongdae Park in Gwanak-gu, Seoul.

Designed to support the exchange and co-creation of young artists from Chungnam and to establish new active stages beyond regional boundaries, this event was held in conjunction with the 10th Gwanak Ganggamchan Festival, featuring performances, exhibitions, and regional youth artist exchange programs.

This year's Youth Art Festa brought together 33 young artists from Chungnam across various fields—including traditional Korean music, classical music, applied music, dance, fine arts, calligraphy, and video art—who formed 4 teams and presented a total of 6 co-produced performances. Through preliminary planning and exchange processes, the participating artists explored new collaborative possibilities by combining different genres and creative methods.

On October 16, at the main stage of Nakseongdae Park Plaza, three performances were held under the theme "Start, ST[ART]": "Love, Farewell, and Time Blooming Again," "Toward a New Start, Navarra," and "The Moment Art Begins, ST[ART]." They unfolded stories of encounters, farewells, and new beginnings as a single cohesive flow combining music and visual arts.

In particular, the event featured convergence stages blending performing arts and visual arts by combining music fields such as pansori, gayageum, haegum, piano, and violin with visual arts including Korean painting, fine arts, and calligraphy, alongside media art videos and live calligraphy performances.

Subsequently, on October 17, three co-produced performances—"Strolling in Junggoje," "Reviving All Senses," and "Youth, and Us"—took place at the Anguksa Fringe Stage. The teams presented unique creative stages infused with their individual personalities, such as combining traditional Junggoje vocal art with calligraphy, daegeum (large bamboo flute), and traditional Korean dance, as well as linking music and contemporary dance with videos utilizing the scenery of Gyeryong, Chungnam.

This event gained further significance as a process-oriented exchange project where young artists moved beyond simply participating in completed performances to directly planning, collaborating with artists of different genres, and showcasing the results to audiences in Seoul. It also served as an opportunity to expand the activity stage of Chungnam young artists by meeting new audiences beyond regional borders.

Lee Ji-won, Head of the Arts Promotion Division at the Chungnam Culture and Tourism Foundation, stated, "This Youth Art Festa is meaningful in that young artists did not merely display their individual works, but met artists of different genres to directly plan and create a single piece together. We will continue to support Chungnam young artists so that they can unfold new artistic possibilities on diverse stages beyond their regions and maintain continuous exchanges and collaborations."

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