Last year’s KAIST Art and Music Festival (KAMF) was a huge success that brought some of the most well-known Korean independent bands and many music lovers to the KAIST campus. Organized by the Undergraduate and Graduate Student Council to enhance the cultural life at KAIST, KAMF provided opportunities to enjoy cultural events up close without having to travel to Seoul.

This year, the student council has made some changes to this annual event. While organizing the festival, the student council carried out numerous events to receive feedback on last year’s KAMF in order to make the upcoming festival even more enjoyable and successful. As a result, KAMF is to be held at a much bigger scale and the lineup of artists coming to perform is certainly loaded with many more well-known Korean independent bands than it had the previous year.

The main difference from last year’s KAMF is the bigger scale of the event. KAMF for this year is a two-day event, which is held from September 4 to 5. A total of 18 bands was invited as compared to 12 bands that came to perform last year. A new program called Festival Night Fever (FNF) was also added to boost the air of festivity prior to the main events of the second day. FNF will be held at the Outdoor Theater (W9) from 7:00 to 11:30 p.m. on the first day and start with performances by various bands such as Mechanical Beetle, Hot Potato, and Sister’s Barbershop.

On September 5, the main events are to take place at three different locations around the campus. First, open stage performances, or “busking,” will take place on the lawn near the Main Administration Building (E14) and Creative Learning Building (E11). Here, less well-known musicians who have applied to take part will perform. As with last year’s case, Art Flea Market will be set up next to the open stage for people to purchase art crafts made by students and artists. It will be available on both days of the festival. At the Outdoor Theater, there will be performances given by musicians such as We Play Because We Want To, Broccoli You Too, and Verbal Jint, from 1:30 p.m. to 11:00 p.m. At the Sports Complex (N3), other bands such as Burning Hepburn, Peppertones, Pia, and Kim Chang Wan Band will perform from 3:30 p.m. to 10:30 pm. The festival will end with FNF performances at the Outdoor Theater.

Last year, the tickets were provided free of charge to all KAIST students who reserved online. However, out of more than 2,000 people who had made reservations for the festival, less than half of the people actually turned up to participate. In order to prevent such a case, the student council decided to charge 10,000 Korean Won from the KAIST students to give them a sense of responsibility in participating. As a result, a rather humble total of 1,500 students have applied to take part this year.

As the host of the festival, KAIST students were given some privileges in the application process. Unlike last year when there was only one period for reserving tickets, multiple application periods were provided this year to allow more students to take part. Also, the reservation for tickets was done through an online link, made exclusively for KAIST students, while others had to apply at www.yes24.com and pay 44,000 Korean Won.

This year, the student council also made a change in the volunteer selection process. Whereas last year, only 30 students from KAIST were chosen to work as volunteers during the festival, this year, 60 volunteers were selected from KAIST and 60 volunteers from other universities. As well as getting 1 AU for the volunteer service, the volunteers who have already purchased a ticket will get a refund as they will be spending most of their time working at the festival.