Porsche Korea (CEO Holger Gerrmann) announced the launch of an open competition for rising new Korean Art Industry Start-ups with the ‘Porsche Frontier Startup’ Award supporting promising platforms that foster artistic creative ideas in cooperation with the Seoul Foundation for Arts and Culture (CEO Chang-ki Lee).

‘Porsche Frontier Startup’ is a new social contribution program of Porsche, a brand built upon the dream of the perfect sports car by its founder ‘Ferry Porsche. Along with its innovative and creative approach, the program is designed to encourage and support the next generation of Start-ups in the Art Industry that provide a sustainable infrastructure spreading diversity for the Korean cultural and art world.

The goal of the program is to broaden the support for artistic endeavours and their platform for creative ventures. The plan is to bolster the competitiveness and growth of early-stage entrepreneurs in the arts sector through systematic support.

This project targets art businesses operated for more than one, but less than five years. Interested companies can apply until May 2nd.

Types of support for businesses include: ▲ Culture and arts event planning and production,▲ Online and offline sales, rental, promotion, intermediary operations for artworks or products, ▲ Commercialization and content development and production of artworks, and ▲ Other art-related service businesses. A total of four categories are available, and interested companies can select one of these options.

Following a written evaluation and interview review, five selected startups in the arts sector will each receive 40 million won. To enhance businesses, an entrepreneurship program will be provided, consisting of an accelerating program with mentoring and consulting from professional startup planners, and a networking program between selected companies and stakeholders.

Additionally, Porsche Korea will offer a Demo Day in November for final business presentations, where the level of business development is evaluated, and award differentiated prizes within a 10 million KRW pool. This is part of a broader initiative to support promising startups in unfolding more creative dreams in the cultural and artistic sectors.

Porsche Korea CEO Holger Gerrmann stated, "With this new project that embodies Porsche's innovative brand spirit, we hope that we can support startups to build and expand their businesses in the cultural and artistic world.” He also added, “Similar to IT start-ups we believe that the creative industry builds an important pillar for progress and aspire for this program to further grow the diversity in the art world by supporting Korean entrepreneurs that contribute to the journey of artists across different genres in realizing their dreams."

Companies interested in participating can submit their application and supporting documents through the Seoul Cultural Arts Support System (scas.kr). More detailed information can be found in the Seoul Cultural Foundation's website (sfac.or.kr).

In addition to ‘Porsche Frontier Startup’, Porsche Korea introduced ‘Porsche Frontier’ category at ‘Seoul Arts Awards’ last February, a ceremony dedicated to fine arts and selected a total of six outstanding artworks. These final selections are scheduled for a reperformance this year. Porsche Korea plans to continue its commitment for the development of a sustainable cultural and arts environment through diverse sponsorships.