The 2026 MAMA Awards are going bigger than one arena this year. At a press conference in Seoul on Thursday, CJ ENM laid out a lineup of special collaboration stages and a brand-new MAMA Fan Festa around the two-night show at Kyocera Dome Osaka on November 20 and 21.
The special stages
One of the most fun pairings on paper: veteran duo Panic will share the stage with CORTIS’ Martin and Seonghyeon, WOODZ, ZEROBASEONE’s Kim Tae-rae, ALLDAY PROJECT‘s Woochan and Hearts2Hearts’ Yuha. ENHYPEN, who have a comeback coming next month, get a cinematic stage tied to the film ‘Dune: Part Three’, which opens in December.
There’s also a collaboration with Korean contemporary art master Lee Bae, one with Google Gemini, and the already-announced team-up of BIGBANG and ‘Dooly the Little Dinosaur’. Mnet head Yoon Shin-hye said the Lee Bae stage “visually expresses the message that art and music take on new meaning within the cycle of time.”
A fan festival across Osaka
The MAMA Fan Festa runs from November 9 to 21 at spots around the city, including Kyocera Dome Osaka, Midosuji Street and Namba Square, plus online through Mnet Plus. CJ ENM describes it as a quest-style festival where fans can take part and meet each other, not just watch the ceremony.
A new awards format
The two nights are also being split differently. Instead of separating fan-voted and main prizes, day one covers the Fans’ Choice and singer categories, while day two brings the Best Song Top 10 and the genre awards. Park Bo-gum returns as host and is the show’s first-ever ambassador, under this year’s theme, ‘A Music Interstellar’.