Event held Sunday at Banpo Hangang Park

Children, youth, seniors and people with disabilities take the stage

Program features original ballet, collaboration with deaf artist

A collaborative performance by deaf artist Ko A-ra and a wheel dance troupe. [Dareumdaum Festival Organizing Committee]
A collaborative performance by deaf artist Ko A-ra and a wheel dance troupe. [Dareumdaum Festival Organizing Committee]

"Difference is each person's own identity."

The 2026 Dareumdaum Festival drew a large crowd of citizens and artists Sunday at the outdoor stage on Yebitseum Island in Banpo Hangang Park, Seoul.

Supported by Seoul's 2026 Private Festival Support and Development Project, the festival centered on the theme "Walking with the vulnerable, a festival we build together." It brought together citizens of diverse generations and backgrounds — children, teenagers, seniors, people with and without disabilities, and multicultural families — through culture and the arts. The event was co-sponsored by the Korea Tourism Organization, Seocho-gu, the Seocho Cultural Foundation and the Seoul Metropolitan Federation of the Korea Senior Citizens Association.

This year's festival focused on sharing, through art and culture, the message that "difference is each person's own identity" — a call to see the distinctions between people not as obstacles to overcome or erase, but as individual qualities and ways of being that deserve respect.

The festival went beyond passive spectatorship: participants from a wide range of backgrounds took the stage themselves, while audiences engaged with their stories and shared in the experience, giving the event added meaning as a participatory celebration.

The opening "Dareumdaum Performance, Made Together" featured Seoul Ballet Theatre and the Songpa Kids Étoile Dance Company performing an original ballet titled "Our Harmony." The program continued with a vocal performance by the J1 Ensemble, a collaborative stage by deaf artist Ko A-ra and a wheel dance troupe, and a street dance set by HYChoreo Project. Later performances included "Youth Rewind," a line dance featuring elderly and vulnerable participants, and "A Stage of Difference," which brought together visually impaired musicians, artists and civic groups.

Singer Kang Won-rae closed the festival with a storytelling concert titled "My Difference, My Identity." Throughout the venue, visitors could take part in interactive programs including an AI photo booth, face painting, a capsule toy machine and reflex games.

Attendees agreed on the importance of a social culture that recognizes and respects individual differences, and on the role that art and culture can play in connecting people across generational, class and ability divides.

The previous edition, the 2025 Dareumdaum Festival, was held Sept. 13-14 at the open-air stage of Seoul Children's Grand Park in Gwangjin-gu, Seoul.

Ko Young-woo, chairman of the Dareumdaum Festival Organizing Committee, said, "We are all different, and that difference is not something to be erased — it is each person's own identity that deserves respect." He added, "Difference is each person's own way of being. The Dareumdaum Festival was started to create a stage for them and to let citizens watch and cheer them on together."


ikson@heraldcorp.com