Gangdong-gu (Mayor Lee Jung-hun) was awarded the Grand Prize at the “15th Korea Culture Management Awards of 2020.” This award was given for the successful cases of urban regeneration, recognizing the district’s innovative cultural management policies, such as the Kang Full Comic Street and the Angel Workshop Street. The district was also praised for its remodeling, instead of new construction, of the old government office building, which was built in 1979, into an eco-friendly Cultural Office building. This remodeling was recognized for having a positive three-in-one effect on the economy, the environment, and the culture.

The Kang Full Comic Street is a “special comic street” where the Cheonho-daero 168-gil of Seongnae-dong, which was once crowded with old houses, was decorated with more than fifty murals of scenes from webtoon artist Kang Full’s comics. The Angel Workshop Street was formed after odd businesses near Seongnae Public Library and Tonghak-ro were removed from the neighborhood starting in 2016 and workshops run by talented youths began popping up in the area to improve the living environment and create jobs for the social economy. The two projects were Gangdong-gu’s representative cases of urban regeneration.

Starting in March, the Gangdong-gu government office building, which was recognized as a cultural government office, began exhibiting artworks on each floor under the themes of “People and People,” “Nature,” “Time,” and “Relationships and Communication.” Starting on November 17, the open courtyard of the government office building began displaying the outdoor sculpture exhibition created under the theme of the “Power of Sculptures: Communication and Healing in the Untact Era.” The district broke down the high walls of culture and the arts to comfort the weary hearts of residents who visit the office building and employees who are busy with their public service duties.

Furthermore, the “Pre-Historic Culture Festival in Gangdong,” which was awarded at the Pinnacle Awards for six consecutive years, the “Gangdong Foundation for Arts & Culture,” which was established this year to secure expertise, and the lifestyle book café, “DadokDadok,” which opened in September with the district’s goal to open ten branches by 2022, all encompass the uniqueness of Gangdong-gu.

The “Korea Culture Management Awards” are sponsored by Herald Corporation and the Korea Herald, and although the awards ceremony was planned to take place on the 19th at the Press Center, the ceremony was canceled due to the recent spread of COVID-19 in the metropolitan area.

Awards are given in the categories of local government body and public institution, manufacturer, finance and hospitals, tourism and leisure, education and law, and culture in order to create a healthy business culture and discover figures, enterprises, and institutions with excellent competitiveness. Within Gangdong-gu, a total of thirty-seven institutions were awarded, including Starbucks Korea, GS Retail, Kangwon Tourism College.

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  7Gangdong-gu government office building that is admired by residents as an eco-friendly, cultural government office