From Sept. 30 to Oct. 1, an annual festival at Chonnam National University organized by the General Student Council (GSC) was held with in-person and online events, after an absence of three years. This festival named “Yongbong Daedongpuri” under the title “Bukae Daejeon (fictional persona competition)” is aimed at giving opportunities to discover side characters through various programs. Students had high expectations but also worries about the hybrid festival that had been designed to drive up the participation rate in the event amid pandemic life. Fortunately, it finished without a huge issue and received a positive response from attendees, but some students pointed out that it had a few problems including technical mistakes and a lack of promotion. The Chonnam Tribune looked into the festival, focusing on students’ expectations for the on-campus and virtual programs and their evaluations of the events.

In-person Festival Stamp Tour
The GSC operated a stamp tour program on campus to encourage students and local residents to take part in the festival, experiencing several events such as taking a picture at one of the acrylic photo zones and an outdoor moonlight globe light, finding hidden Minions and looking at a photo exhibition. The photo exhibition was jointly held with members of the photography club Zoom. GSC Vice President Koo Soo-hyun (Junior, Dept. of Family Environment and Welfare) mentioned, “It was the most difficult part to plan diverse content while following the quarantine rules. We wanted to hold a ‘participatory’ campus festival that would satisfy all CNUians, so we prepared many events with campus clubs and used various platforms to increase students’ interest in school activities.”

To help many students enjoy all these events, Festival Planning Group (FPG) created and distributed map-shaped stamp application papers. Festival attendees could print their pictures right away, using cell-phone printing devices on sites while going on the stamp tour. The Moon and rabbit light spots were very popular for taking photos. While wearing Minions and Doraemon costumes, the FPG members took pictures with festival attendees who found them in places on campus. After collecting the stamps after completing all of the above events, participants were able to apply for lottery prizes at the Student Union 1 building and the Convention Hall. The prizes included wireless earphones and film cameras which were given to the lottery winners.

Many students living in dormitories or near the campus enjoyed the contact festival events. Yu A-yeong (Freshman, Dept. of Psychology), who participated in all of the contact event programs, expressed her satisfaction. “I enjoyed the festival while having fun going around the school as a tour. I was proud to take part in a variety of programs during the day and look at the moon-shaped light at night. And I was happy to print my pictures so as to keep them in my memory.”

Online Festival Events
As part of the hybrid festival, the non-contact program was composed of three types of events including online workshops and club performances. Online workshops were conducted over Zoom, and a total of 240 students, 60 students per class, attended online classes such as making customized perfume, rattan pen holders, and handmade neon signs. “Jeonflix” (named after Netflix) released videos that introduced famous restaurants near campus, varsity jackets for each department, and the daily life of the GSC President. The club performances were held under the title of “Donggong Jijin” that means a person’s eyes are shaking from seeing amazing performances from dance clubs, singing, and rapping on the stage.

There was a lot of controversy over running non-contact programs as part of the campus festival. However, these online events were quite meaningful and received positive reviews because students could take part in the virtual festival. Audiences could take workshops and watch the performances on Zoom video meetings and by streaming on YouTube. The number of pre-booked people according to the Zoom audience was 81 but about 60 people participated on the day. In addition, up to 300 students enjoyed the festival in real time through the YouTube channel, and some of them were given various gifts.

Jeon Se-won (Senior, School of Polymer Science and Engineering), a member of the dance club Newera, said, “When we perform, seeing the audience's reactions gives us energy, but it was sorrowful that I could not see the audiences’ reactions. Still, I would like to thank the FPG and GSC for giving us the opportunity to stand on the stage and I would also like to thank the CNUians who watched the performance in real time.” Regarding the virtual festival content, Jang Jun-hyu (Junior, Dept. of Philosophy) said, “Personally, I was frustrated because I could not go out for two weeks of self-quarantine, but I was able to refresh myself through making neon sings by attending the online class. I was very proud that I designed and made the only work in the world.”

The Limitations of the Successful Festival
The festival was somewhat successful, and the students who participated said they were satisfied with the on-campus and online events. Despite the good results, there were little accidents and problems in operating the non-contact events. The accidents occurred while streaming the club performances on the stage due to the carelessness of the event management company and some attendees. The audience's conversation flowed out during the performance of the dance club Factory. The company also played a pre-recorded video, which the FPG requested to be played between the performances, but they were played in the wrong order. In addition, there were times when the host of the event did not concentrate on the performances and did not even appear on the stage. Han Seung-heon (Junior, Dept. of Philosophy), the planning director of Donggong Jijin said, “I was disappointed due to various broadcasting accidents. The unexpected situations were quickly resolved, but it was sorrowful.”

Additionally, the last annual festivals received criticism for failing to consider international students studying at the university. The GSC established the Foreign Student Committee in their organization through the full revision of the school regulations, but it was repeated again during the hybrid festival. International students could not see promotional materials including a pamphlet written in foreign languages for them. Many of them did not notice that the university’s annual festival had been held during the period, even when they saw the photo zones throughout the campus. They just enjoyed several events without knowing it was part of the festival organized for CNU students including them. Ji Meng-yuan (Freshman, Dept. of English Language and Literature) mentioned, “I did not get any information about the festival. I wanted to enjoy the festival, but it was already over. I did not know why the giant character doll was moving around campus.”

The New Direction of University Festivals
The 2021 CNU’s annual festival ended with good responses from students. It was evaluated positively to some extent in that it was well-organized with the hybrid format, which is adequate for the current situation and can be the appropriate direction of the university festival after the COVID-19 pandemic. Meanwhile, it failed to encourage the participation of foreign students and several broadcasting accidents left students with regret. In addition, it is questionable whether the festival programs accomplish the purpose of giving opportunities to discover side characters through participatory activities. However, this festival was filled with various student attractions on and offline, unlike other universities that only held their festival online. It was reported that CNU’s festival, which returned in three years with the appropriate harmony of contact and non-contact programs, demonstrated a new direction for university festivals in the future. The Tribune hopes that the next festival will be a lively and global festival with many people including foreign students and local residents.

By Hong Ju-yeon, Tribune Reporter