Exploring Tongyeong international music festival in South Korea as a globalizing cultural festival

This study investigates how Tongyeong, a declining small city in South Korea, has successfully hosted an international cultural festival and achieved cultural and economic revitalization. Focusing on the Tongyeong International Music Festival (TIMF), the research highlights the pivotal role of multi-scalar gatekeepers in shaping the festival’s growth and integrating it into both global cultural networks and local development efforts. Conceptualizing TIMF as an emergent temporary cultural cluster, the study examines how these gatekeepers strategically balance buzz and pipeline dynamics—a balance often underexplored in the context of globalizing cultural events. Based on in-depth interviews, archival documents, field observations, and secondary materials, the analysis show that gatekeepers build pipelines through external collaborations, trans-local institutional building, and international and national sponsorships, and, while simultaneously activating local buzz via media outreach, government partnerships, music events, and community engagement. Their scalar position and curatorial role enable them to connect actors across multiple geographical scales.