Supporting the cultural industries using venture capital: a policy experiment from South Korea

Abstract

This paper explores the interface between the state, the cultural industries and the financial market by focusing on a policy experiment from South Korea: using venture capital for public cultural investment. This policy experiment has significantly increased capital injection to the cultural industries and has provided a fertile ground for the industries to quickly grow. Challenging the dichotomist understanding of the state-market relations, this paper views the government's use of venture capital as a "state-led regulated financialisation" project, in which the cultural ministry has created, expanded and "tamed" the cultural venture capital market. Venture capital companies' profit maximisation is seriously limited by not only government regulations but also strategic behaviour of private investors (cultural distributors). Yet, the paper points out that involving the financial market further complicates cultural industry policy, which already entails tension between culture and industry.

The Covid-19 crisis and ‘critical juncture’ in cultural policy: a comparative analysis of cultural policy responses in South Korea, Japan and China

“…Despite the sophisticated web of agencies and the existence of multiple programmes, therefore, the current emergency provision is very far from being a safe buffer for the cultural sector. The cultural ministry is increasing its investment in the cultural industries via the venture capital market as before (Lee 2021;MCST 2020f), yet it is hard to know how this will work when all kinds of market are not functioning properly. As usual, the ministry is keen to expand its role as a patron and its budget will increase in 2021 by 5.9% (MCST 2020e).…”