- Making Osaka and the Kansai region an international hub for the dissemination and exchange of arts and culture -

This art festival, which has been held three times since 2022 in Osaka as an "art festival that studies the relationship between art, people, and society," will finally take place in 2025, the year of the World Expo.
The exhibition will take place in various locations throughout Osaka and Kansai, including the Expo 2025 Osaka-Kansai site, the Osaka Culturarium Tempozan designed by ANDO Tadao, the Osaka Prefectural International Conference Center (Nakanoshima) designed by KUROKAWA Kisho, as well as in Nishinari, Semba, and the JR Osaka Station area.

The theme of the event is "social impact," and it aims to revitalize the economy and make social issues visible through art and culture through exhibitions, art fairs, and art projects. It plans to utilize the entire Osaka city area to promote art and culture from the Kansai region to the world, and also to promote international exchange through art through projects in collaboration with institutions in Germany, South Korea, the EU, and other countries.

Thoughts on the Study: Osaka Kansai International Art Festival 2025

Kengo Kito “inconsistent surface” 2023 Photo: Kohei Matsumura

Since its inception in 2022, this art festival has focused on areas of Osaka City such as Nishinari and Semba, which have been affected by economic changes since the Osaka Expo in 1970. Nishinari and Kamagasaki were once places where many manual laborers worked and lived during the period of high economic growth. Today, the area faces various social issues such as an aging population, an increase in foreigners, and rising land prices due to real estate investment. In addition, the Semba area once flourished as a logistics hub and a wholesale district where people, wealth, information, and culture and arts from all over the country gathered, and we have focused on the power of art born from the unique characteristics of Osaka and created diverse encounters.

In addition to the public art exhibit at the Art Expo, we will hold a project with Matsubara City, known as "Matsubara, the Skateboarding Town," in 2025. Furthermore, we plan to promote international and local exchanges through art, such as projects in collaboration with countries around the world, including Germany, South Korea, and EU countries, and "Co-Study," which invites proposals from all over Japan and works together to create excitement.

In the year of the Expo, which has the theme of "Designing a Future Society for Life," we would like to hold an "Art Festival to Study the Relationships between Art, People, and Society" from Osaka/Kansai to the world, and widely disseminate the wonders of culture and the arts.

Left: Aida Makoto / AKI INOMATA / Algorithmic Perfumery / Etat Libre d'Orange / ZOOLOGIST / STORA SKUGGAN / Tamura Yuichiro / Disconoma (Thomas Vautier + Fanny Terno) / Tomotoshi / NEANDERTAL / MOCAF / BYNAM / Hasegawa Ai / FISHKOM / II / YAP “AP” 2023
Photo: Kohei Matsumura
Image on the right: Alan Barthol “Dead Drops” 2023 Photo: Kohei Matsumura

Art not only moves and amazes people, but is also said to instill in people the "creativity" to open up the future and the "imagination" to care for people and society. The impact that art has on cities has been confirmed in many places both in Japan and overseas. Utilizing the power of art as a pillar of growth strategies not only for Osaka and Kansai, but for the whole of Japan, is very important for building a better future.

We believe that holding the Osaka-Kansai Expo and the Osaka Kansai International Art Festival simultaneously in 2025 will be a major step towards preserving Japanese culture and the arts for the future.

Photo: Kohei Matsumura

We would be extremely grateful if you could support our challenge through hometown tax donations. We hope to join forces with people all over Japan to make this project a success. Thank you very much for your support.

What is the individual version of hometown tax?

Hometown tax (Furusato nozei) was established as a system that allows people to contribute to the hometowns they were born and raised in, and to choose the local government they want to support of their own volition. It is a system that allows people to freely choose the local government they want to support and how their donations will be used.
Donations can be made to "Study: Osaka Kansai International Art Festival" through Matsubara City (Osaka Prefecture).
Matsubara City has supported this art festival in terms of promoting art to the world from Osaka and the Kansai region.
Mayor SAWAI Hirofumi of Matsubara City, as chairman of the Expo Mayors' Union, which consists of 666 cities, wards, towns, and villages nationwide, and chairman of the Kinki City Mayors' Association, which consists of 111 cities in the Kinki region, aims to revitalize the region through art. Through this initiative, he aims to realize an art festival that will boost the cultural and artistic industry from Kansai.
50% of your donation will be contributed to the art festival.

Benefits of hometown tax payment

If you make a donation (hometown tax) to a local government you support, any portion of the donation that exceeds 2,000 yen is generally deductible from your income tax and resident tax. (There is a certain upper limit.) To receive the deduction, you must file a tax return, but if you meet certain requirements, you can use the one-stop special system that does not require you to file a tax return.

*Donation limits vary depending on salary income, household composition, whether or not you have a mortgage, etc.
If you have any concerns, please contact the resident tax department of your local city, town or village.

About the One-Stop Special Application System

To receive a deduction, you are required to file a tax return; however, if you meet certain requirements, you can use the one-stop special system, which eliminates the need to file a tax return.

① In order to make a hometown tax donation and receive a deduction from your income tax and local resident tax, you are required to file a tax return as a general rule.
②However, if you are a salaried worker who is not required to file a tax return and you have made hometown tax donations to five local governments, you can use the "One-Stop Special Application System" to apply to the local government where you made the hometown tax donation, which will eliminate the need to file a tax return.
③Please note that if you file a tax return after applying for the one-stop special exemption, the one-stop special exemption application will be invalid.

How to apply

Please apply using the form below. All donation procedures will be handled by Matsubara City, and no personal information will be collected by the art festival.

[Deadline] February 28, 2025