Residents and experts join three subcommittees to shape festival programs, with proposals reviewed and adopted through formal deliberation
Geumcheon-gu will hold this year's Geumcheon Harmony Festival as a resident-led event, the district announced.
Subcommittee meetings of the 2026 Geumcheon Harmony Festival resident-participation organizing committee were held Wednesday through Friday, the district said.
The Geumcheon Harmony Festival, launched in 2005, is the district's flagship festival and has grown into a gathering where all residents come together. Under the ninth elected administration, the district has moved beyond simply inviting residents to take part in select programs — establishing a structure in which residents directly propose and shape the festival's direction and programming as part of its broader "district administration with residents" initiative.
To that end, the district formed the 2026 Geumcheon Harmony Festival resident-participation organizing committee. Made up of about a dozen members — including residents, experts and local media advisers — the committee will deliberate on and adopt proposals from three subcommittees covering cultural planning, performance events, and exhibition and hands-on experiences, with the results reflected in the festival.
The committee held its first general assembly at the Geumcheon-gu office on Aug. 27. Members were formally appointed, the committee's operating plan was shared, and participants exchanged a range of views on the festival's development — including expanding resident participation, involving local artists and lifestyle culture groups, and making greater use of local resources.
Participants particularly emphasized the need to sharpen the festival's identity around the concept of "harmony," and called for programs that welcome a broad range of residents — including local artists, community organizations, youth and senior citizens — as well as content that draws on Geumcheon's local assets, such as G-Valley businesses and neighborhood commercial districts.
The district plans to hold a second organizing committee meeting in September to consolidate the subcommittees' discussions and finalize key plans for the festival, scheduled for Oct. 17 and 18.
Through this year's committee operations, the district intends to evaluate the resident participation model, identify areas for improvement, and develop a sustainable framework in which residents plan and make decisions together.
"I hope the Geumcheon Harmony Festival becomes not a festival that the administration creates and presents to residents, but one that residents themselves conceive and build together," Geumcheon-gu District Mayor Choi Ki-chan said. "With the launch of this organizing committee, we will actively support efforts to ensure that residents' diverse voices are in fact reflected in the festival."
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