Press

"To see the next generation of social innovation, look at today's art stage." Hong Sa-woong, head of the Arts Management Support Center, announced the start of the ArtWid Impact Investment Pitch. The impact investment pitch held on the 16th at Wulan Cultural Foundation in Seongsu-dong concluded a 12-week problem-solving process in the culture and arts sector. The 12 teams participating in the competition took part in the ArtWid educational program run by the Arts Management Support Center under the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and Underdogs, discovering solutions to problems in the arts field and materializing business models. "When discussing innovation in any field, there is a tendency to emphasize changes occurring in the technology sector," said Hong. "However, one source of innovation is imagination, and imagination comes from art." The 12 teams participating in the impact investment pitch are also composed of members working in various art fields including music, visual arts, dance, and performance. Hong added, "The 12 promising startups we meet today are teams based on limitless imagination. I ask for your affectionate interest and advice in recognizing the infinite feasibility of social ventures." Through 5-minute presentations and 3-minute Q&A sessions, 3 outstanding teams were selected from the 12 teams participating in the impact investment pitch. HelloArtC took the grand prize. Jatuli and Creous won the top award and excellence award, respectively. HelloArtC, which won the grand prize, presented a cultural platform where mothers and teachers jointly record a child's history. It is a service for parents and art academy teachers who find it inconvenient to manage drawings created by children during their growth process. When children's works are photographed with a camera developed by HelloArtC, they can be stored in individual galleries. Teachers reduce the hassle of classifying and transmitting pictures one by one, and parents can separately store and preserve drawings made by their children. Park Ye-jin, CEO of HelloArtC, who developed the service based on her experience running an art academy, explained, "Through a gallery created together by parents, teachers, and children, parents can effortlessly record their child's growth process, and teachers can improve work efficiency." Pictures saved in the app can later be used for creating growth albums. They can also be used for product manufacturing such as clothing or bags. HelloArtC plans to launch its app in the first half of next year and begin market penetration starting with art academies in Seoul. Subsequently, it plans to expand its market to art and physical education academies targeting children nationwide. Jatuli, which won the top award, presented a business model that matches hot places with young artists. It connects complex cultural spaces such as cafes struggling with unused spaces and artists who face difficulties in obtaining spaces for artwork exhibitions. Lim Heon-chul, CEO of Jatuli, explained, "By adding unique exhibitions and cultural spaces to spaces, we will recycle unused spaces and provide artists with personal exhibition opportunities." Jatuli plans to increase available spaces by more than 400 locations within the next three years and begin market penetration. Creous received the excellence award as a portfolio-based creator collaboration sponsorship platform. An Ji-yeon, CEO of Creous, explained, "We will enable portfolio content creation, one of the important tasks for creators, within the platform." The existing method of portfolio production among content creators was through collaboration between creators. They worked for free with each other and used the results as a portfolio. Meetings between creators who need portfolio production took place through SNS channels such as Facebook groups, Instagram, and cafes. An explained, "Given this situation, cases arise where one side breaks a promise and doesn't show up at the production site or makes unreasonable demands. We developed this service to solve inefficient connection methods and communication problems." Creous gathered creators wanting to collaborate on the platform and introduced a manager authentication service. This is to encourage stable collaboration. In the future, it plans to introduce recruitment services and help creators sustain their creative activities. Other teams that took the stage include Play Design Studio, where art and taste meet; J&J Art Content, which operates a forest theater school for preschool children; ArtWorkGuide, developing exhibition guides for the visually impaired; Artsomuch, a platform connecting youth and artists; Pew, an art agency for Count Culture artists; Unsol, providing performance opportunities for amateur artists in their 20s; Onjeonhi, an online exhibition platform; Shining Lab, an artist portfolio casting platform; and Dancetruct, a new media content production company for dancers.