K-pop takes center stage at USC concert, dance competition and academic forum
Events include an academic examination of the phenomenon as well as a concert featuring Korean musical artists Sejeong Kim and Kingdom.
More than 3,500 USC students and community members on Friday attended the university’s first K-Pop Festa. The day’s events featured a free concert by Korean mega-star Sejeong Kim and chart-topping boy group Kingdom, an international K-pop cover dance contest and an academic forum analyzing the global phenomenon of K-pop with USC faculty, graduate students and a leading entertainment industry executive.
The event was hosted by the Korean Cultural Center in Los Angeles, the Korea Foundation for International Cultural Exchange and the Korean Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism to commemorate the 140th anniversary of diplomatic relations between Korea and the U.S. through cultural exchange. The USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism and the East Asian Studies Center at the USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences worked together to bring the spectacle to the USC University Park Campus.
“As the first-ever K-pop event on a U.S. university campus to feature both an academic forum and a live concert, it was meaningful to discuss and celebrate the future of K-pop with opinion-leaders at USC,” said Sangwon Jung, director of the Korean Cultural Center of Los Angeles.
