More than just a meeting ground for athletes to flex their competitive talents, The 28th Universiade Gwangju 2015 has its sights set on creating opportunities for the thousands of athletes, participants and locals to experience a “Cultureversiade.”
As part of the Universiade’s EPIC initiative (Ecoversiade, Peaceversiade, ITversiade and Cultureversiade), the Gwangju Universiade Organizing Committee (GUOC) has organized a myriad of events, exhibitions, concerts and festivals highlighting the various cultural characteristics of Korea and the historical city of Gwangju.
The programs are intended to not only act as a cultural exchange and communication hub for some 20,000 people expected take part in the Universiade festivities, but become platforms to unite international athletes and locals.
With the games gearing up to kick off on July 3, the Cultureversiade events have been divided into six categories: the Eve Festival, the FISU Gala, the Universiade Park event, Athletes Village events, the 2015 Global Youth Festival and events at the competition venues.
Besides introducing the city’s modern-day art scene and emphasizing Gwangju as the city that played an instrumental role in establishing democracy and human rights in Korea in the 1980s, the Cultureversiade will be a feast of traditional Korean dance and music performances as well as authentic food from Jeolla Provinces.
The cultural events will officially launch prior to the opening day, with the GUOC holding an Eve Festival featuring musical programs that will act as a pre-Universiade kick-off celebration.
On the same day, the games will also hold a FISU (International University Sports Federation) Gala at the Asian Culture Complex, where officials from FISU and GUOC will pay tribute to the participating athletes who have dedicated their efforts in developing the core values of FISU and unveil the upcoming host cities of future FISU events.
Starting from the day of the opening ceremony on July 3, the Universiade Park event will take place nearby the main competition venues until July 14. Athletes and local tourists will be invited to take part in music and art performances as well as a wide variety of other cultural activities. The events are open to both athletes and the general public.
From July 4 to 13, the Youth Nanjang Festival will feature a variety of music concerts and festival programs at the Democracy Square of the Asian Culture Complex.
The Athletes Village, a home to some 13,000 university athletes from about 150 countries, will offer its international guests the opportunities to partake in daily activities divided into three categories of performance, exhibition and experience activities.
Starting July 4 at the Flag Plaza of the Athletes Village International Zone, athletes can take part in traditional mask making, Korean fan making, caricature drawings and face painting, as well as watch a variety of musical shows ranging from a cappella and cheering to local indie band and DJ performances. The events at the Athletes Village will run until the day of the closing ceremony on July 14.
As the host of the 2015 Global Youth Festival, Gwangju is also taking advantage of the Summer Universiade’s flux of athletes to unite and inspire today’s youths through cultural exchange.
Under the theme of “Cheering for Future of Youths,” the festival will run from July 4-12 in and around the Asian Culture Complex.
The main event of the festival will kick off for two days from July 4 – 5, inviting a number of local celebrities to host music concerts at the Asian Culture Complex.
Acclaimed speakers will also deliver inspirational speeches which will be televised to the public in realtime in the form of a TED conference. The lectures will take place at Chungjang-ro and Gumnam-ro — two streets famous as the site of the May 18, 1980 Democratic Uprising.
The festival will include a large number of side programs including camping, street cheering events and a youth market as well.
* 2015 Gwangju Universiade cultural events schedule
Universiade Park – July 3-14 / Main Stadium
Youth Nanjang Festival- July 4-13 / Asian Culture Complex
Athletes Village Festival – July 4-14 / Athlete’s Village
Closing Ceremony- July 14 / Main Stadium
By Sohn Ji-young (jys@heraldcorp.com)
