Under the agreement, the RoK entertainment company will make a financial contribution of US$450,000 to support UNICEF’s Growing with Music project. The partnership is built on the shared value to uphold children’s rights and will emphasise the positive impact of music on the development of lifeskills and values for children starting from early childhood.
The three-year project involves well-known music institutions and recognised artists to promote the foundational basis that early childhood education and other levels of education with music can develop talented students.
The project also includes capacity development for managers, teachers and parents both at the national and local level to ensure that development of music programmes and events in school will be strengthened, while culturally sensitive and traditional musical expression within the formal school setting is linked with music education at all levels and promoted.
The partnership between UNICEF and S.M. Entertainment is representative of the strong relations between Vietnamese and Korean people, said UNICEF Representative in Vietnam Youssouf Abdel-Jelil.
The financial contribution from S.M. Entertainment is expected to have multiplying effects because when children are offered equal opportunities to reach their full potential in school, families are supportive and caring, communities thrive, and countries grow, the UN official added.
S.M. Entertainment CEO Kim Young Min expressed his belief that the programme would provide opportunities for Vietnamese children to receive music education, find their talent, and grow their ability to express their talent.
Executive Director of the Korean Committee for UNICEF (KCU) Suh Dae Won said that it is fitting for the KCU and S.M. Entertainment to launch the project this year, as next year will be the 25th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Vietnam and the RoK.
S.M. Entertainment is a private entertainment company established in 1995 in the RoK that operates as a record label, talent agency, music production company, event management and concert production company, and music publishing house for several prominent artists.
