Corporate Support For Exhibitions in South Korea Falls By More Than 25%

Corporate funding for South Korea’s visual arts and museum sector fell sharply in 2025, bringing an end to a post-pandemic surge that had seen businesses expand investment in an arts scene already heavily reliant on their patronage.

According to the 2025 Survey of Corporate Support for Arts and Culture published by the Korea Mecenat Association, total corporate funding for the arts amounted to 196.88 billion KRW ($143 million USD), down 7.4 percent from the previous year. Among all artistic disciplines, visual arts and exhibitions recorded one of the steepest declines, with funding dropping 27.7 percent to account for 11.7 percent of total corporate arts spending.

Infrastructure support remained the largest category of corporate arts funding, accounting for 56.2 percent of the total spend, despite a 7.9 percent year-on-year decline. Covering the operation of company-owned museums, exhibition venues and multi-purpose cultural facilities, the category reflects a defining feature of South Korea’s cultural landscape. Unlike in many countries where businesses primarily sponsor public institutions, South Korea’s largest conglomerates have long-established foundations and museums of their own, making corporate patronage a cornerstone of the country’s institutional infrastructure.

The report attributed the decline in visual arts funding largely to reduced support from the retail and distribution sector, particularly a scaling back of exhibitions and artist collaborations staged in department stores. It also cited reduced conditional donations distributed through the Arts Council Korea, illustrating the close relationship between corporate giving and public cultural funding in the country.

The latest figures reverse a trend that began in 2022, when corporate support for visual arts and exhibitions surged by 60.9 percent following the Covid-19 pandemic, driven by renewed consumer activity and expanded cultural programming by major retailers including Shinsegae and Hyundai.

By 2025, Samsung Foundation of Culture remained the country’s largest corporate arts sponsor. Through Leeum Museum of Art and Leeum Museum of Art the foundation has become one of Korea’s most influential cultural patrons, supporting one of the largest collections of historical Korean art and contemporary practice alongside research, publications and exhibitions.

Other leading corporate supporters included Lotte Foundation for Arts and Doosan Yonkang Foundation, which operates Doosan Art Centre and the Doosan Yonkang Arts Award.

While direct monetary support declined, the survey found companies increasingly contributed through the use of physical space. In-kind support through the free provision of corporate lobbies, galleries and other venues rose 8.5 percent from the previous year, suggesting businesses are making greater use of existing cultural infrastructure even as overall arts spending contracts.

The findings also arrive amid broader debate over the growing role of chaebols (corporate giants with many companies spanning different industries) in the cultural sector. Recent years have seen discussion surrounding the 2021 donation of more than 23,000 works from the collection of late Samsung chairman Lee Kun-hee to national museums, and Hanwha Group’s controversial partnership with the Centre Pompidou, raising broader questions over the relationship between corporate philanthropy, cultural influence and the public interest.