WASHINGTON, DC.- The Smithsonian’s National Museum of Asian Art has announced that it is one of six recipients of the National Museum of Korea’s Overseas Korean Galleries Support Program. The award of $1.4 million—the largest grant yet awarded—supports the National Museum of Asian Art’s Korea program for four years and will enable the museum to expand the program, which aims to deepen audience interest in Korean art and culture.

The funding supports the following integrated set of activities that will take place over the next four years:

• Exhibiting and interpreting key objects from the collection of former Samsung Corp. chairman Lee Kun-hee in association with the National Museum of Korea as part of a major Korean art-loan exhibition that will be held at the National Museum of Asian Art 2025–2026

• Reinstalling the museum’s permanent collection of Korean art in a way that engages younger audiences and the community

• Creating public and scholarly programming that supports offerings in the galleries and operates as a nexus of activities on its own

• Instituting a program of staff exchanges that support other activities of the grant

Alongside these activities, the National Museum of Asian Art will begin to define and design a strategy that increases the footprint of Korean art in the museum within the next five to seven years.

“Following our 2023 centennial celebrations, we are embarking in concert with our new partners on our second century with great momentum,” said Chase F. Robinson, the museum’s director. “I thank the National Museum of Korea for this pacesetting gift that will allow us to continue to foreground the rich history of Korean arts and cultures as we begin a new chapter in our museum’s history.”

A recently appointed curator for Korean art and culture will lead and advise on the ambitious projects made possible by this grant.

When the museum opened its doors as the Freer Gallery of Art in 1923, it was one of the first in the U.S. to display Korean art. The entire current Korean collection can be viewed online.

In its second century, the National Museum of Asian Art has taken an increasingly global turn. The award from the National Museum of Korea animates the museum’s four strategic plan goals: to expand, preserve and celebrate its collections; to identify, attract and serve new and diverse audiences through its physical and digital spaces; to foster an object-inspired understanding of the arts, communities, cultures and societies of Asia; and to build a museum culture that is creative, collaborative, transparent and resourceful.

Korean Art and Culture Initiatives

With the growing prominence of Korean culture across the globe, the museum has increasingly shared its historical art collections alongside Korean popular culture in programming featuring film, food, music and performance. High-profile Korean performers, including Grammy Award-winning violinist Jennifer Koh and K-pop artist Eric Nam, were featured during the museum’s centennial celebrations in May 2023, which were attended by more than 40,000 visitors. In September 2023, the museum presented its new annual celebration of Korean art and culture that coincided mid-autumn festival Chuseok. It was one of the most well-attended single-day events of the year, with over 5,000 visitors.

In April 2023, the Smithsonian Institution signed a memorandum of understanding with the South Korean Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism to increase collaboration. Under this umbrella, the National Museum of Asian Art is able to pursue joint projects that build on its long track record of exhibiting Korean art and advancing Korean art scholarship. The current exhibition “Park Chan-kyong: Gathering” inaugurates the museum’s new modern and contemporary galleries with the first solo presentation of Seoul-based artist Park Chan-kyong’s work in a major U.S. museum. In April 2024, the National Museum of Asian Art installed a specially commissioned edition of the sculpture “Public Figures” by Korean artist Do Ho Suh in front of the Freer Gallery of Art to celebrate the museum’s centennial.