Lotte Foundation for Arts wins top prize at Mecenat Awards

The Lotte Foundation for Arts, the cultural foundation of Lotte Group, won the grand prize at this year’s Mecenat Awards for its support of classical music and contemporary art, the foundation said Wednesday. The foundation received the award, which comes with a presidential citation, at the 27th Mecenat Awards ceremony held Tuesday at The Westin Josun Seoul hotel. “Mecenat” is a French term for corporate patronage of the arts. The Korea Mecenat Association has hosted the awards since 1999 to honor companies and business leaders who have contributed to the development of culture and the arts in Korea. Lotte Group Chairman Shin Dong-bin founded the foundation in 2015. It started with 20 billion won ($14.7 million), half from his personal funds and half from three Lotte affiliates. Lotte says it has invested about 200 billion won in arts support since then. The foundation runs Lotte Concert Hall and Lotte Museum of Art, both in the Lotte World Tower complex in Songpa District, southern Seoul. It is the only foundation set up by a Korean company that operates both a concert hall with