KT&G (President Baek Bok-in) successfully hosted Sangsang Univ Jiphyeonjeon 2021, an artist discovery project for college students across the country, who dream of becoming next-generation musicians.

Sangsang Unive Jiphyeonjeon, which was first launched last year, is KT&G’s program of differentiated culture and arts, to allow college students with passion and talents for music to grow into future artists.

The program gained all the more interests this year as top-class musicians in Korea, including Jiyoung Baek and Taewoo Kim (vocal), Mamison and Cheetah (rap), and Kim Taewon and Han Kyungrok (rock band) participated as mentors. The mentors provided 1:1 mentoring for 12 finalists, for production, sound recording, etc. and did not spare any efforts for the development of the young musicians.

243 teams and 487 college students from all over the country took part in this competition, and participants competed fiercely in three fields of vocal, rap, and band. On November 13, the final contest was held at KT&G Sangsang Madang Chuncheon to conclude the four-month journey. Under the theme of “competa” (competition + fiesta), the twelve finalist teams, who honed their skills through mentoring, and the six mentors presented their celebratory performances.  

As the government policy of gradual recovery of daily life (living with coronavirus) starts this month, a team of small audience was invited to evaluate the performances. The entire project of Sangang Univ Jiphyeonjeon 2021, including the preliminary and final round and mentoring, can be accessed, starting in December, at KT&G Sangsang Univ YouTube channel.

Park Hyun-wook, head of KT&G Univ's operation department, said, "Hopefully, Sangsang Univ Jiphyunjeon will be a stage for college students who dream of becoming next-generation artists to unleash their overflowing talents to their heart's content. We plan to run various programs to revitalize the arts and culture sector, which has been stagnant due to COVID-19.”