Dream Festival gives 350 young dreams one stage

A girl from Yeongdeok, North Gyeongsang Province, joined her local dance troupe because she wanted to grow taller. On Thursday evening, she stood on a stage at Alpensia Resort in Pyeongchang, Gangwon Province, telling a crowd of strangers-turned-castmates that she now dreams of becoming a modern dance artist.

She was one of roughly 350 children and teenagers who filled the Music Tent that night, having traveled from every corner of the country and met each other for the first time only days earlier. Members of the Dream Orchestra and Dream Dance Troupe spent the evening finding a common language through art, and by its end they were united in one voice for the festival's theme song, "My Tomorrow," each carrying a different dream onto the same stage: "Let's picture tomorrow, let's meet myself. Let's picture tomorrow, let's meet tomorrow — the one and only me."

The occasion was part of the Dream Festival, held Thursday at Alpensia Resort's Music Tent. Now in its third year, the festival is a nationwide joint camp for members of the Dream Art Troupe, the flagship program of Korea's arts and culture education initiative that brings together children and teenagers from diverse backgrounds. This year's edition was reorganized into genre-specific camps to better reflect the characteristics of each art form.

The Pyeongchang gathering, themed "Our Harmony," ran from Wednesday to Friday and brought together about 350 young members from five Dream Orchestra chapters and 13 Dream Dance Troupe chapters, along with chaperones and officials, for a total of 460 participants from 18 host organizations nationwide.

Culture, Sports and Tourism Minister Chae Hwi-young attended the event and encouraged the young performers ahead of their performance. "Please don't be nervous — show us everything you've practiced so hard for, and shine on stage," he said. "I'll be watching closely until the very end, cheering and clapping as hard as I can."

Vowing to expand this program, the culture minister said that exposing children to arts and culture such as dance and music early and often is key to helping them discover their own aptitudes. "I will also work hard to make sure more opportunities like this are created for you," he said.

According to the MCST, the Dream Art Troupe program has grown to 150 chapters nationwide as of this year: 45 self-sustaining and 15 state-supported Dream Orchestra chapters; along with 37 Dream Dance Troupe, 18 Dream Theater Troupe and 20 Dream Studio chapters; a visual arts track that moved from pilot to regular operation this year; plus 15 chapters under its newest program track. Since the program's founding in 2011, about 34,170 children and teenagers, supported by nearly 7,000 arts educators, have participated through 2025.

Lim Jin-taek, head of the Korea Arts and Culture Education Service, which runs the program, explained the significance of this year's theme. "This year's camp carries the theme 'Our Harmony,'" he said. "Our children, who have each honed their growth and their craft in their own regions, coming together on one stage through this joint performance — that process, and that goal, is what this camp is about."