KRW 101 Billion Visual Arts Budget... Artist Support Up Eightfold, Overseas Exhibitions Shift to a "Two-Year" Format

Creation, distribution and appreciation budget excluding construction projects: KRW 42.6 billion... up 3.4%
Support for artists at different career stages rises from KRW 300 million to KRW 2.6 billion... art criticism budget quadruples
Overseas expansion support revamped from single-year to multi-year program... KRW 4.1 billion allocated
National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art: KRW 77.1 billion; Dangin-ri Cultural Creation and Power Plant opening and operation: KRW 52.9 billion

The government has allocated KRW 101 billion in next year’s budget for the visual arts. Excluding construction projects, the budget for art creation, distribution and appreciation totals KRW 42.6 billion, up 3.4% from this year. Although the overall increase is modest, support for individual artists’ creative work will expand more than eightfold, and overseas exhibition support, previously centered on single-year projects, has been revamped as a two-year program. The effort aims to shift the focus of support for the art world from one-off events to developing artists and fostering sustained expansion overseas.

Choi Hwiyoung, Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism, speaks at the third meeting of the Art Subcommittee of the Cultural and Arts Policy Advisory Committee at the Seoul branch of the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art in Jongno-gu, Seoul, on the 30th. Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism

The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism said Minister Choi Hwiyoung held the third meeting of the Arts Subcommittee of the Cultural Arts Policy Advisory Committee at the Seoul branch of the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Korea, on October 30, and discussed the 2027 government budget proposal for the visual arts and progress on existing policy proposals.

The expansion of creative support stands out in the budget proposal. The Visual Arts Creation Support program has been allocated KRW 3.2 billion, a 171% increase from this year. Of this, funding to support outstanding artists at different career stages will rise about 8.7-fold, from KRW 300 million to KRW 2.6 billion. Support for art criticism will also increase from KRW 100 million to KRW 400 million.

Support for spaces in which to present artwork will also be strengthened. The Visual Arts Creation Spaces program, which supports the staging of outstanding exhibitions, has been allocated KRW 4.5 billion, up 51.8% from the previous year. The aim is to broaden the foundation for artistic creation by linking support not only for producing works but also for exhibitions and criticism.

For support for overseas expansion, changes to the program’s format are more notable than the size of its budget. The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism has consolidated and revamped existing single-year programs, launching a new KRW 4.1 billion program called “Scaling Up Korean Art’s Global Expansion.”

Those in the field have previously pointed out that overseas exhibitions had to be planned and carried out within a short preparation period. Under the new program, overseas curators will be connected with Korean artists to plan an exhibition in the first year, and the artists’ works will be presented at an overseas exhibition venue the following year. The program differs in that it shifts overseas expansion from one-off exhibition participation to medium- and long-term collaboration.

These policy changes are also linked to signs of recovery in the domestic art market. According to the “2026 Art Market Survey” by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and the Korea Arts Management Service, the value of domestic art transactions totaled KRW 638.2 billion last year, up 3.8% from the previous year.

However, the number of works traded fell 3.1%. In the auction market in the first half of this year, sales of high-priced works also drove up total transaction value. It is difficult to say that the rebound in the market’s size has led to more sales opportunities for artists across the board.

This context helps explain why the government is seeking to expand support for art production, exhibitions and criticism at the same time. Growth in the art market’s overall size alone is not enough to ensure that emerging and mid-career artists have the conditions they need to produce and present their work consistently.

Visitors to the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Seoul, in Jongno-gu, Seoul, line up to enter. Yonhap News.

The National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art’s government budget proposal for next year totals KRW 77.1 billion, up 5.5% from this year. The museum has allocated KRW 8.37 billion to its “Next-Generation K-Art’s Global Expansion” program.

Of this, KRW 6.97 billion will go toward developing young artists in the basic arts, supporting them throughout their growth, from producing works to consulting with experts and holding exhibitions. Another KRW 1.2 billion has been allocated to a program that will organize touring exhibitions by young Korean artists in collaboration with major museums around the world.

Funding will also go toward facilities that support artistic creation and systems for art-related information. A budget of KRW 52.9 billion has been set for the opening and operation of the Dangin-ri Cultural Creation and Power Plant in Mapo-gu, Seoul, which is scheduled to open next year. The Integrated Art Information System, which will provide information on art transactions and key statistics and support claims and distributions of resale royalties, has been allocated KRW 680 million and is scheduled to begin operating in July next year.

Support for domestic and international residency programs has increased 146.8% to KRW 4.937 billion. Of this, KRW 3.937 billion is allocated for collaborative creation and production at international residencies in Korea, and KRW 1 billion for participation in overseas residencies. The program supports not only visual arts but also literature, performing arts, multidisciplinary arts and technology-convergent arts.

The budget proposal for next year’s visual arts totals KRW 101 billion, including construction projects, but the budget for creation, distribution and appreciation, excluding those projects, is KRW 42.6 billion. The year-on-year increase is only 3.4%. While funding for some artist-support programs has increased substantially, the overall budget for programs in the art sector has not risen significantly.

In particular, as overseas expansion support programs are being extended to two years, it will be important to determine how participating artists and exhibition institutions are selected and how the results can lead to follow-up exhibitions and distribution. The policy’s impact will also depend on how many artists actually benefit from the increased funding for creative support at different career stages.

Experts from the art world attended the meeting, including Kim Youngseok, chairman of the Korea Art Appraisal Association; Son Donghyun, a professor at Sungkyunkwan University; Lee Seonghun, president of the Korea Galleries Association; Yang Jeongmu, a professor at Korea National University of Arts; and Cho Minseok, head of Mass Studies.

“For Korean art to grow, comprehensive support is needed for artists’ creative work, distribution, overseas expansion and the foundations of the arts,” Minister Choi said. “We will continue to listen to people in the field and develop the policies needed.”

The budget proposal will be finalized after deliberation by the National Assembly.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.