Han Sung Motor’s unique art scholarship program, which supports 40 young students a year to foster their artistic dreams, has reached a 10-year milestone this year.

Looking ahead to the next decade, the official dealership for Mercedes-Benz here has launched the Dream Gream 2.0, an upgrade to the program that chief executive Ulf Ausprung designed and introduced back in 2012.

The Dream Gream 2.0 adds a variety of new activities to the existing program in order to benefit not just the chosen scholarship recipients, but as many as 1,000 young kids and aspiring artists in the local community.

Speaking at this year’s kickoff ceremony for the program, Ausprung said through the effort, the company aims to “create shared value.” The company chose the acronym CSV as the new goal of the 10-year-old program and “Share and Realize Our Dreams Together,” as its new slogan.
“Basically under CSV, we have two directions. One is to create social value with Dream Gream to solve social issues. The other direction is that Han Sung Motor will create new business opportunities. Profits from CSV will be donated to those who need help,” Ausprung said during the ceremony, which was held virtually on March 12 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

“So based on our experience of 10 years in Dream Gream and art education, we will benefit more people with our two new CSV programs.”

In addition to art classes for recipient students provided by university student mentors and professional artists, the Dream Gream 2.0 entails a set of new activities aimed at furthering artistic engagement with the society and thereby contributing to the building of creative capital.

Starting this year, Dream Gream scholarship recipients will make art education kits and video instructions to send out to about 100 community child centers across the country to contribute to the art education of about 1,000 children.

It will be an opportunity for Dream Gream students to contribute their talent to society, a Han Sung Motor official explained.

The auto dealership also plans to support university student mentors who share their talents with Dream Gream recipients.

A variety of support programs are being eyed, such as helping them launch a career in arts and design or opening their own businesses.

It was Ausprung who started the scholarship program in 2012 to provide both financial support and learning opportunities to 40 middle and high school students talented in art.

Art and design have always interested him, and he taught it at a university in China. So the chief thought he could start a scholarship program when he came to South Korea to lead the auto dealership in 2011, Ausprung said.

The Dream Gream scholarship program is jointly operated with the Korea Mecenat Association, a nonprofit entity that encourages corporate support of the arts.

At the kickoff ceremony, Hang Sung Motor welcomed four new scholarship recipients, four new mentors, and five new “ambassadors,” who are employees at Han Sung Motor that will be assisting the students and mentors.

Park Ju-hee, who has been on the Dream Gream scholarship for nine years since she was chosen in 2012, expressed gratitude, while welcoming the new faces.

“To be given the chance to present my art works in front of a lot of people, and share opinions and feedbacks with professional artists and mentors have really helped in my growth,” said Park who graduated from the program last year. She is majoring in visual design at the Seoul Institute of the Arts this year.

For this year’s program, Han Sung Motor has prepared courses under the theme of “Digital and Analogue,” which combines painting with digital technology, the company said.

In running the scholarship program throughout the decade, the auto dealership worked with various groups and institutes to promote their values.

In April 2014, the company inked a partnership with the Seoul Foundation for Arts and Culture, and has worked together to improve the city with art.

Working with professional artists, the scholarship students have also donated art works to Chung-Ang University Hospital in Seoul, Kyung Hee University Medical Center, a district-run sanatorium hospital in Gangnam, and Yongin Severance Hospital in Yongin, Gyeonggi Province, from 2014 to 2020.

By Jo He-rim (herim@heraldcorp.com)