The Eunpyeong Cultural Foundation opens the doors of its “2026 Urban Forest Art Healing” program starting June 24. Hosted by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and run by the Korea Arts and Culture Education Promotion Service, the initiative uses urban forests and parks around Eunpyeong-gu as its stage, offering citizens a time to recover through art and meditation.
Urban forest art healing is not a project being tried for the first time this year. Until last year, cultural and arts healing programs were operated across various regions nationwide, using forests and gardens as backdrops and delivering to citizens the experience of recovery where nature meets art. This year, that current is flowing into Eunpyeong-gu, with Mount Bukhansan and the Bulgwangcheon stream nearby.
The neighborhood park you might just pass by on your way home from work, the sound of water along the riverside you might let drift by without thinking—this summer, those familiar sights may land with a slightly different meaning.
Woods, waterways, dirt paths... Three avenues of nature’s sensations
The reason this program draws attention lies in a lineup that is not monotonous. While making direct use of resources such as the urban forests and parks created in Eunpyeong-gu—including Mount Bukhansan and the Bulgwangcheon stream—the program is designed so that participants can experience different sensations of nature by splitting each detailed process into the woods, the waterways, and the dirt paths.
The first session, “The Evening’s Passage: Pausing (Pause) and Gliding,” runs every Wednesday evening starting June 24 at Masil-gil Neighborhood Park in Jinguandan-dong. Jinguandan-dong is a neighborhood town with Mount Bukhansan and Jinguangsa Temple nearby, where a hanok village and the walking trail for the Dulle-gil route come together—an area where people can feel the air from the mountain slopes close to the heart of the city. In this session, participants take time to release the day’s tension through breathing, tea (tea), and movement meditation. Holding a warm cup of tea and lingering for a moment in the evening’s forest air—maybe that alone could be enough comfort.
The second session, “The Passage of Waterways: Soundscape,” runs every Friday and Saturday starting July 10 at the riverside stage along the Bulgwangcheon stream. The Bulgwangcheon is a river that cuts across Eunpyeong-gu and has long served as a place for citizens to stroll. Composed of meditation using the sounds of water and natural noises, it offers an experience that sparks your senses anew along the flowing water’s edge.
The third session, “The Passage of Dirt Paths: Earthing and Movement Meditation,” operates every Saturday starting July 18 at Geonbeon-dong Neighborhood Park. The program is built around earthing (Earthing)—standing barefoot on the ground—and a balance-restoring process for body and mind through physical activity in nature.
In the fall, amid lush greenery: wrapping up with the “Green Sound, Ripening” festival
All three sessions run one after another from June through September, and the journey concludes with the “2026 Urban Forest Art Healing Festival 〈Green Sound (綠音), Ripening〉,” held from October 24 to 25 at Geonbeon-dong Neighborhood Park and the forest theater at the Eunpyeong Cultural Arts Center. It is a picture in which healing moments built up in the woods, along the waterways, and on the dirt paths during spring and summer come together as a single festival in the fall’s lush green.
Jang Woo-yoon, the CEO of the Eunpyeong Cultural Foundation, said she hopes the program will provide citizens with a special opportunity to experience art and healing in everyday urban forest settings and serve as a chance to view the region’s nature through a new lens.
Even a landscape you pass by every day becomes an entirely different space when someone’s hands and gaze are added. That is how Eunpyeong-gu this summer looks—where the riverside you always walk along becomes a stage for meditation, and a neighborhood park you’re used to turns into a place of rest.
Recruitment for program participants and detailed schedules will be announced through the Eunpyeong Cultural Foundation’s website and its official social media accounts.