'Cultural Arts Promotion Fund in "Depletion Crisis," National Assembly Forum for Stabilization'

November 1st, 2 PM, National Assembly Members' Office Building, Seminar Room 3

A forum to explore measures for stabilizing the funding of the Culture and Arts Promotion Fund (hereinafter referred to as the Munye Fund), the only public fund in Korea dedicated to promoting basic arts, will be held on the 1st.

On the 31st, the Korea Arts Council (Arts Council Korea) announced that the Munye Fund Stabilization Forum will be held on November 1st at the 3rd Seminar Room of the National Assembly Members' Office Building in Yeouido, Seoul.

Poster for the National Assembly Forum on Stabilizing the Funding Resources for the Promotion of Culture and Arts.
[Photo by Korea Arts Council]

Since its establishment in 1973 with an initial project budget of 31 million KRW, the Munye Fund has served as a catalyst for the promotion of culture and arts in Korea with a cumulative project budget of 4.3232 trillion KRW over the past 50 years, reaching 425.6 billion KRW in 2024.

The Munye Fund has consistently supported various areas for the promotion of culture and arts, including artistic creation, cultural welfare, regional culture, and international exchange. The results have been remarkable across all fields of basic arts, including the Nobel Prize in Literature awarded to author Han Kang.

However, since the abolition of the fund-raising system in 2004, concerns about the depletion of the fund have persisted every year due to insufficient financial measures compared to national demand.

This forum is organized to seek practical alternatives to address these concerns. It is co-hosted by Kim Seung-su, a member of the People Power Party from the National Assembly’s Culture, Sports and Tourism Committee, and Park Dae-chul, also from the People Power Party and the Planning and Finance Committee.

Academics who have studied the fund’s financial issues and artists who have continued their creative activities in the field alongside the Munye Fund will gather to conduct academic discussions on funding stabilization measures, as well as to collect opinions from the field on the fund’s value and the need for stable financial support for the promotion of culture and arts.

The forum will be chaired by Choi Byung-seo, Honorary Professor of Economics at Dongduk Women’s University and former president of the Korean Cultural Economics Association. Professor Kim Jin-gak from the Department of Cultural Arts Management at Sungshin Women’s University will present on the topic “Financial Crisis of the Culture and Arts Promotion Fund and Strategies for Funding Stabilization.”

Regarding the funding structure of the Munye Fund, three academic experts?Professor Kim Woo-cheol from the Department of Taxation at the University of Seoul, Professor Kim Jin from the Department of Economics at Dongduk Women’s University, and Professor Park Jong-mi from the Law School at Chonnam National University?along with Kim Seong-hoon, head of Dance Project and an artist active in the field, will participate in the discussion.

Jung Byung-guk, Chairman of the Arts Council Korea, stated, “We will continue to make efforts to establish the stabilization of the Munye Fund’s financial structure, which is the foundation for stable support of culture and arts, based on the diverse opinions gathered through this forum.”