Tongyeong Contemporary Music Festival is known as an archetype of Tongyeong International Music Festival. It was held in Tongyeong, Korea, within almost the same prospectus as in TIMF, including the spirit to commemorate Isang Yun, a renowned composer who was born in Tongyeong.
This festival took place in 2000 and 2001. Isang Yun's disciples are known as the initiating organizers of this festival, and they were encouraged by the success of a singular concert titled 'Night of Isang Yun's Music' which was held in 1999. Based upon this success, they wanted to develop it into a new form of a music festival with a series of concerts for consecutive days.
Two years' festivals were found to be very successful, and this success enabled Tongyeong citizens to dream of a more developed format of a music festival. Their public opinions eventually moved the municipal government and other related institutions to call for the required budget and form a legal entity to manage the developed version of the festival.
The development became Tongyeong International Music Festival, while TIMF Foundation was established to take charge of managing TIMF.