Youth Culture Pass: How Seoul expanded access to the arts for young people
Project: A targeted cultural policy intervention that supports equitable access to arts and culture for low-income youth
Launched in 2023, the Seoul Youth Culture Pass provides KRW 200,000 annually to youth aged 20–23, enabling them to attend theatre, exhibitions, and more. The programme supported over 32,000 young people in 2024, promoting cultural access while stimulating Seoul’s post-COVID arts and culture scene. With high uptake and plans for future expansion, it sets a new benchmark for equitable, youth-focused cultural policy in global cities.
Addressing barriers to cultural participation
Seoul’s Youth Culture Pass represents a strategic effort to bridge a longstanding gap in youth cultural policy. While prior initiatives in South Korea prioritized housing, employment, and education, access to culture had received less emphasis. With the pandemic having severely disrupted the cultural sector, this new policy responded to both a social equity challenge and an economic recovery need — reaffirming the role of culture in holistic youth development.
For many young adults, financial limitations present a major obstacle to accessing cultural experiences such as theatre, opera, art exhibitions, or concerts. Previous government initiatives lacked the scope or specificity to adequately address this issue. Recognizing that equitable access to the arts is vital to inclusion, creativity, and long-term cultural sustainability, the Seoul Metropolitan Government sought a targeted intervention.
Designing a pass for youth culture
The Seoul Youth Culture Pass offers young people an annual cultural subsidy via a digital card, which can be used to attend live performances and visual art exhibitions. In order to maximize equity, eligibility prioritizes individuals from households earning below 150% of the national median income. In 2025, Seoul plans to expand inclusivity further by adjusting age eligibility for those impacted by mandatory military service, ensuring men in Korea are not disadvantaged in programme access.
Overseen by the Seoul Metropolitan Government in collaboration with the Seoul Foundation for Arts and Culture, it is designed to be simple and user-friendly, lowering barriers not only of cost, but of accessibility and awareness. In its first full year of operation, the Seoul Youth Culture Pass supported nearly 33,000 young people to attend cultural events, significantly increasing cultural engagement across the city. Theatre proved the most popular category at 31%, followed by musicals at 14%, opera at 5%, and traditional music 1%. The programme achieved a 79% budget utilization rate in 2024, a strong indicator of both demand and successful outreach.
Boosting the creative economy recovery
The wider impact has been twofold: empowering young people to become lifelong cultural participants, while simultaneously supporting local artists, performance venues, and cultural institutions hit hard by the pandemic. By stimulating attendance and revenue in the cultural sector, the program plays a vital role in broader creative economy recovery.
Future plans include enhancing fraud prevention mechanisms to avoid card resale and misuse, as well as implementing regular feedback surveys to improve the programme’s structure and relevance. The Seoul Youth Culture Pass initiative not only enhances cultural accessibility for young people but also stimulates the arts and cultural sector, supporting artists and venues.
