Committed to Social Contributions

GS Caltex launches Yeosu Culture & Art Park Project

GS Caltex makes good on its promise to donate 10 billion won each year to society for a total of 100 billion won for a decade until 2015. GS Caltex has set in motion a project to build a culture & art park in Yeosu. About 1,000 people assembled for a ceremony to officially launch the park project at the site covering 701,740 sq. meters (about 210,000 pyeong) in the Mt. Mangma and Jang Island area in Yeosu City. The participants included GS Caltex Chairman Hur Dong-soo; Kang Dong-suk, chairman of the organizing committee for Expo 2012 Yeosu, Korea; Yeosu Rep. Kim Sung-gon and Rep. Choo Seung-yong, both natives of the city; Yeosu Mayor Oh Hyun-sup; and heads of major public organizations and civilian bodies in Yeosu.
The culture & art park, dubbed “Yeul Maru,” will likely shape up as one of Yeosu’s representative attractions as major architectural structures will go underground for improving energy efficiency, and performance halls and exhibition halls will be made into environmentally-friendly key structures of the project so that water flowing into the sea from the valley of Mt. Mangma via the glass rooftop can be seen.
In the Mt. Mangma area, there will be a 1,000-seat grand performance hall, a planned exhibition center, an energy publicity hall and observation facilities. Such ecological and landscape facilities as Wind’s Hill, Sunset Hill, Lawn Garden, Dolmen’s Garden and coastal promenade trails will be also created.
GS Caltex Chairman Hur said at the ground-breaking ceremony, “The Yeosu Culture & Art Park will be not only a world-class tourist attraction that will spread the beauty of Yeosu and its artistic depths to the world, but also a cultural landmark of the Yeosu area that will contribute to improving Yeosu residents’ right to enjoy culture and art.”
In his welcoming speech, Yeosu Mayor Oh gave thanks to GS Caltex for contributing to the development of regional society by implementing the Yeosu Culture & Art Park and the massive facility investments as planned despite the unfavorable business conditions caused by the global economic crisis.
Yeosu Expo Organizing Committee Chairman Kang said in a commemorative speech, “The Yeosu Culture & Art Park will serve as an opportunity to upgrade culture and art infrastructure in the Yeosu area, and if facilities related to the sea, the theme of the 2012 Yeosu Expo, are connected, it will have a synergetic effect.”
Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Yu In-chon said in his commemorative video message, “With the inauguration of the Yeosu Culture & Art Park, the government will be sure to make it a space beloved by citizens by providing excellent culture and art contents.”
In August 2006, GS Caltex established the GS Caltex Foundation designed to exercise its corporate responsibility to society and decided to make social contribution activities by donating 10 billion won each year for a total of 100 billion won by 2015.
In October 2007, GS Caltex signed a deal with Yeosu City on the construction of the Yeosu Culture & Art Park for the purpose of Yeosu citizens and regional development. A consultative body for the implementation of the project was formed in April 2008 and a master plan on the projected park was determined in December 2008.
Changjo Architects Inc. and globally recognized architect/designer Dominique Perrault completed the design of the park last month.
The actual construction of the park will begin next March after a detailed design of the project is completed by next February. The performance and the exhibition center will be dedicated ahead of the 2012 Yeosu Expo. A separate management organization in charge of the operation of the park will be established and operated by experts.
On top of the projected park, GS Caltex strives to cultivate gifted manpower in the area by operating English classes for students living in remote island areas lacking educational facilities and offering scholarships to prominent students while devoting itself as a member of the local community through volunteering activities for underprivileged neighbors. nw

This is an artist’s conception of the “Yeul Maru,” culture and art park that GS Caltex is now building in Yeosu.