This study chronologically analyzes the institutional changes of the Seoul Dance Festival(SDF) using the framework of New Institutionalism to identify the festival’s function as an institutional field where national cultural policy, the artists’ community, and social discourse intersect. The research employs a three-tiered analytical framework —policy history, institutional history, and cognitive discourse—to structure the festival’s stages of formation, transition, and institutionalization. The analysis reveals that the SDF’s institutional evolution accompanied the complex interplay of regulative, normative, and cognitive factors. Key drivers included internal critical discourse from the dance community, the national cultural policy’s ‘Arm’s Length Principle’, and the exogenous pressure of adopting ESG-based operations. This empirically demonstrates the realization of Discursive Institutionalism, where social values such as fairness, transparency, and sustainability become internalized as institutional norms. Ultimately, the Seoul Dance Festival transitioned from a ‘regulative institution’ focused on administrative efficiency to a ‘discursive institution’ that has internalized social trust and value. This confirms the shift in Korean arts administration from an emphasis on efficiency rationality to a cultural rationality centered on social discourse.

This study mainly focuses on audience development of dance festivals by applying 7Ps Marketing Mix in the Seoul Dance Festival, which is the first dance festival in Korea. The whole performances in the 39th Seoul Dance Festival(2018. 10. 22 - 12. 04) were sold out, and the festival was evaluated as one of the most successful dance festivals in its history. 7Ps Marketing Mix is the set of marketing tools consisting of Product, Price, Place, Promotion, People, Physical Evidence and Process. According to this analysis, the festival has succeeded because of its qualified programing, aggressive promotion, well-equiped venues, suitable environment, well-trained staff and reasonable ticket prices. To enhance its popularity for the dance festivals, the festival shall collaborate other dance groups which would open their shows during the festival period, manage specified SNS contents, plan the outdoor events before and after the main shows to set the festive mood, make the specialized ticket prices for the festival, manage volunteers more effectively and adopt e-ticket reservation system. This study aims to be a basic marketing resource for the future audiences development in the Korean dance festivals and the dance field.