[비즈한국] It has been confirmed that the "Seoul Forest Jazz Festival," a major outdoor music festival celebrating its 10th anniversary this year, has been cancelled following a series of unpaid dues, including long-overdue payments to subcontractors and partial artist fees that have remained unsettled for nearly a year.
On August 3, the organizer, Pageturner Co., hinted at the festival's return by posting a photo from last year's event on the official Seoul Forest Jazz Festival social media account with the caption, "October 2026 coming soon, @Seoul Forest." However, inquiries with the Seoul Eastern Parks and Recreation Center, which manages Seoul Forest, and the Seongdong Cultural Foundation, a co-host, revealed that it has been decided that the festival will not be held at the Seoul Forest site this year. The combination of prolonged settlement delays and failure to secure the venue has effectively brought the festival to a halt.
Nearly a Year of Unpaid Dues
Behind the collapse of the Seoul Forest Jazz Festival lies a persistent issue of unpaid invoices for outsourced services and partial artist fees that has lasted for nearly a year. Multiple outsourced staff members and partner companies who participated in the on-site production have been complaining of distress, having yet to be fully paid for their services nearly a year after the event concluded last autumn.
One subcontractor reported that they are still owed millions of won. The staff member stated, "We requested advance payments from the start of the project, but we were paid neither the advance nor the final balance."
Several other partner companies involved in the festival site are also in a position where they haven't been paid, and an overseas artist who performed on stage last year has also yet to receive approximately 4 million won in outstanding performance fees.
The CEO of Pageturner stated, "I have no intention of avoiding or running away from the debts," adding, "We are striving to repay the outstanding amounts by utilizing additional sales and profits generated through agency events and production work."
The financial strain has spread beyond private service payments into the realm of local government administration. Regarding the 'Seoul Forest Jazz Festival 2025,' the Eastern Parks and Recreation Center issued multiple official requests for payment to the Seongdong Cultural Foundation and Pageturner, citing unpaid park facility usage fees amounting to 10% of total ticket sales, as per the Seoul Metropolitan City Urban Park Ordinance. City authorities issued three notices of delinquency and even resolved to impose surcharges. The arrears, which had been overdue for months, were only settled in full between late July and early August.
Organizer's Deteriorating Financial Situation to Blame
At the root of this unpaid dues crisis lies the financial fragility of the organizer, Pageturner. The festival's business structure itself makes it difficult to avoid deficits, and debt problems exacerbated by recent business expansions have also had an impact. Unlike other commercial festivals that rely heavily on large corporate sponsorships or public subsidies, the Seoul Forest Jazz Festival has relied on ticket sales for the vast majority of its operational funding.
The CEO of Pageturner admitted, "It has been difficult to turn a profit, as we have only managed to break even once or twice in the 10 years we have led this festival for the unpopular, pure genre of jazz," adding, "As our cash flow tightened early in the year due to loans taken for business expansion, payments to partners were delayed."
He further explained, "We are discussing payment schedules for outsourced service fees after issuing tax invoices, and regarding the overseas artist, there was an oversight during the handover process as the agency team in charge of the artist finished their duties after the festival. We have currently re-requested the invoice from the agency."
Seoul Forest Overlaps with Garden Expo… Venue Coordination Fails, Leading to Cancellation
Ultimately, the main obstacle to holding the festival this year was the issue of booking Seoul Forest. The festival schedule overlapped with the '2026 Seoul International Garden Expo,' which the Seoul Metropolitan Government is hosting from May 1 to October 27.
Initially, the Seoul Forest Jazz Festival was mentioned in a Seoul City press release as a cultural program connected to the Garden Expo. The organizers also held several working-level meetings with Seoul Forest management officials to discuss plans for holding the event within the expo period.
However, as the site was heavily filled with garden installations during the expo, booking the main venues such as the existing Family Plaza became difficult. While an alternative suggestion was made to use small outdoor stages within Seoul Forest, the organizers determined that they could not maintain the festival's brand identity at those locations. In the end, the co-host, the Seongdong Cultural Foundation, finalized the cancellation of this year's festival at Seoul Forest last week.
The CEO of Pageturner said, "We are considering alternatives, such as finding other outdoor performance venues or holding it in an indoor theater," adding, "We plan to organize our position and make an announcement for the fans who have been waiting."
Did Co-Host Seongdong Cultural Foundation Fulfill Its Management Duties?
Some are now raising questions about the responsibility of the Seongdong Cultural Foundation, which has been listed as a "co-host" of the festival.
The Seongdong Cultural Foundation provided administrative support such as park booking, cooperation with government offices, and parking assistance, and funded a portion of the artist contracts (approximately 20 million won). Aside from the artists contracted directly by the foundation, Pageturner handled all other artist contracts, stage installation, on-site operations, promotion, and overall settlement.
An official from the Seongdong Cultural Foundation stated, "We are aware of the general status of the unpaid dues," and added, "Whenever we confirmed complaints regarding the unpaid money or were contacted by affected companies, we urged Pageturner to settle the payments as soon as possible."
However, given that this was a project where a local government-affiliated public institution was clearly named as a "co-host" and even obtained the park occupancy permit under the Seongdong Cultural Foundation's name, it is difficult to avoid criticism regarding their failure to fulfill their management and oversight responsibilities as a public institution. For nearly a year, they failed to play any substantive role in arbitration, doing nothing more than "simple encouragement" while outsourced staff went unpaid and park usage fees to the local government remained in arrears.