For Han Sung Motor, Korea‘s official Mercedes-Benz dealer, year-end celebrations aren’t complete without a graduation ceremony for recipients of its art scholarship program. This year, the event honored four students who completed the Dream Gream program.

In light of the COVID-19 pandemic, this year’s event was held Friday virtually for the first time since the firm launched the program in 2012

Only a small number of people gathered at a cafe in Seoul on Friday, while graduates, scholarship recipients, mentors and Han Sung Motor CEO Ulf Ausprung attended remotely from their respective homes and offices.

“When I first became a Dream Gream recipient in middle school, relationships with other people were a hurdle for me, but my mentor’s support and advice really helped me,” said Ryu Ha-young, one of the four art scholarship program graduates and a senior at Incheon Youngsun High School.

“Throughout my five years in the Dream Gream program, I have created many memories and have spent a great time with the mentors and ambassadors and received much support.”

The other mentees graduating the program this year are Park Ju-hee, Ban Ye-jin and Lee Si-won.

The auto dealership runs the art scholarship program jointly with the Korea Mecenat Association, a nonprofit body that encourages corporate support of the arts. It supports 40 middle and high school students interested in art. Under the program, the company has not only provided financial support but also art classes by renowned artists.

“We’re really going into a ‘new normal’ and a lot of things have changed. I am really missing our year-end new coming, new people in the program and the students who are graduating,” the dealership CEO Ausprung said.

Heading into the ninth year of the program, Ausprung noted the company’s decision to carry on its CSR activity for a long time has proven “right,” and that the company had better opportunities to see the students grow and develop.

“The strong point of the program, apart from art, is the social interaction. And you can only do that if you have a long-term program like what we have,” he said.

“What we’ve always seen from you, (the program) is not just an art education -- which we have done in different genres with university professors and renowned artists in Korea -- but it was also learning about social interaction.”

In the wake of the pandemic, the company opted to run the year’s programs online, using digital devices such as iPads, and planning all of its activities remotely.

Starting with the Digital Drawing Class held remotely on May 30, Han Sung Motor held monthly art classes for the mentees, including the art car taping lesson led by tape artist Park Gun-woo.

In addition, the company also organized an art class with Bae Joon-sung, a renowned artist for lenticular techniques, in August.

The students and Bae worked on the art work, dubbed “The Costume of Painter -- at the studio -- into the forest” together, and donated the work to Yongin Severance Hospital in Yongin, Gyeonggi Province, the company said.

Other artworks produced by Dream Gream students this year are on display at Han Sung Motor‘s AMG Brand Center in Sinsa, Seoul. They can be seen online at the company‘s official website.

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