Companies Pouring More Money Into Performing Arts.

Internet and venture companies are expanding their investments in public performance like drama, musicals and concerts in an effort to net both profits and high value-added cultural contents.

Pouring money into performing arts, a sector which saw funding plummet with the economic crisis, is being revived on investments mainly from Internet companies and venture funds.

E-commerce company Interpark (www.interpark.com) will invest 3 billion won (about $2.7 million) in public performances this year. It spent 600 million won for concerts of tenor Jose Carreras and Korean pop singer Lee Seung-hwan planned by Polimedia in November last year, becoming the first Korean company to directly invest in public performances.

Interpark has already invested 390 million won so far this year in three performance planning companies, including Dreammaker which is advancing concerts of top singer Cho Sung-mo.

It is seeking to invest in promising performances from the planning stage and recoups its funds gradually from ticket sales.

Interpark, which is operating the booking service Ticketpark, posted profit of 50 million won from last year's investment, including commissions from ticket sales.

Though profits are small, investments in performance help the company secure content suppliers.

Musical Avos earlier this month made news by attracting investments from angel funds Carmanpark, KAIST-AVM and Pusan Techno Angel Club. The three jointly invested 130 million won for a musical whose performance was almost impossible due to the financial difficulty of Seoul Musical Company.

Investors promised to recollect their capital only even if the musical yields some profit and reinvest the remaining profits for other performances in the future.

Internet service provider Thrunet also became the first company to officially invest in dramatic plays, which are thought to be less profitable than concerts or musicals.

Thrunet established project group Iart (www.iart-korea.com) jointly with public performance information Web site Haje (www.haje.co.kr) and performance planning company Ida.

Iart will raise funds to invest in plays and give awards every year to the top dramas. It will invest around 200 million won in plays this year.

The companies are planning to invite investors online for small investments in the funds while reflecting audience opinion as much as possible via the Internet from drama selection to review.

``It will be attractive for investors to invest with a small amount of money and secure good cultural content,'' Haje President Yang Chang-ryul said.

Hangil Group, which owns an angel club, acquired TNS Theatrical last month and changed the name to Hangil Entertainment.

Hangil Entertainment will receive financial assistance from its parent group, which was the first cultural business team created in over a year since that of Samsung Group vanished in 1998.

The inflow of funds into the performing arts is attributed to the active efforts of those in the industry to attract investment and companies wanting to secure high value-added cultural content first, an industry source said.