Last year, the total amount of corporate support for arts and culture in South Korea reached approximately 212.5 billion won, marking a 1.8% increase compared to 2023 (212.52 billion won).
The Korea Mecenat Association announced these findings on July 1, releasing the results of its "2024 Corporate Support for Arts and Culture Survey," which targeted 735 companies, including the top 500 companies by domestic sales and corporate-sponsored cultural foundations. The association stated, "It is encouraging that the scale of support increased despite economic downturn and political instability. However, since 2023, support has stagnated, with the growth rate remaining at only 1.8%." The number of corporate support cases for arts and culture last year was 1,861, and the number of supporting companies was 587, representing increases of 18.5% and 14%, respectively, compared to 2023.
The polarization of support by genre and region has intensified. According to the "Corporate Support Amount by Arts and Culture Genre," the infrastructure sector (including performance venues, multi-purpose cultural spaces, and art museums) received about 120.1 billion won, accounting for 56.5% of the total support and maintaining an absolute dominance. However, the support amount for this sector decreased slightly by 0.3% compared to the previous year.
The fields of visual arts and exhibitions (about 31.9 billion won, +3.9%), classical music (about 21.5 billion won, +23%), and arts and culture education (about 13.4 billion won, +1.5%) followed. Support for literature (3.3 billion won, +33.9%) and dance (1.3 billion won, +2.4%) also increased compared to 2023.
In contrast, support from companies decreased for non-mainstream and multidisciplinary arts (about 5.6 billion won, -14.7%), Korean traditional music and arts (about 4.0 billion won, -1.6%), film and media (about 1.9 billion won, -33.2%), theater (about 1.7 billion won, -30.7%), and musicals (about 1.4 billion won, -24.6%).
By supporting entity, KT&G maintained its top position among individual companies for the second consecutive year in 2023. KT&G operates the multi-purpose cultural space "KT&G Sangsangmadang" in Seoul (Hongdae and Daechi), Chuncheon, Nonsan, and Busan. The company actively expands diversity in the domestic arts and culture sector by supporting a wide range of genres, including visual and multidisciplinary arts, as well as non-mainstream genres through programs such as "My First Concert" and the "Great Short Film Festival."
Among corporate-sponsored foundations, the Samsung Foundation of Culture provided the largest amount of support. The Samsung Foundation of Culture operates the "Leeum Museum of Art" and the "Hoam Art Museum," introducing a wide range of artists from traditional masters such as Gyeomjae Jeong Seon to contemporary artists like Philippe Parreno. Last year, the foundation opened the multi-purpose cultural space "Sounds S," presenting performances in various genres with both established and emerging musicians. It also runs programs such as the "Samsung Music Fellowship" for instrument sponsorship and the "Piano Tuner Training Project."
The survey on "Corporate Support for Arts and Culture by Region" found that the concentration in the Seoul metropolitan area has intensified. Support for the Seoul area accounted for 48.6%, and support for the broader metropolitan area totaled 61.1%, while support for non-metropolitan regions decreased by 8.9 percentage points compared to the previous year.
The perception that corporate support for arts and culture is a part of long-term corporate activities, rather than a one-off event, has been spreading. An analysis of the "Duration of Corporate Arts and Culture Projects" showed that the proportion of projects lasting "less than one year" was 22.6%, a decrease of 15.1 percentage points compared to the previous year, while the proportion of long-term projects lasting more than five years increased by 21.5 percentage points to 55.4%.
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