As a part of social sharing and caring activities, SK Telecom initiated an “SK Telecom Happy Music School” project on February 27, 2007. This project is designed to promote classic music educations for gifted teenagers who are unable to get a good musical education due to physical disabilities or dysfunctional family environments.   

The Happy Music School will offer a new concept in classical music education programs with the aim of giving disadvantaged youth an opportunity to experience a wide range of classical music. It will also nurture gifted youth who will grow to become world-recognized musicians. SK Telecom sponsored the school and Korean top musicians voluntarily participated in the education programs.  

To this end, SK Telecom has benchmarked “Music Advancement Programs (MAP) conducted by the Julliard School of Music in the U.S. Alice Scott Williams, director of the Education Welfare Department at the Julliard School, became an advisor to the Happy Music School, and Young Hoon Song, a prominent cellist who graduated from the Julliard School, took an office as music director in the school. The School has started with three musical instrument sectors - Piano, Violin and Cello. To provide promising students with a world-class level of music education, Ju Young Back and Hee Sung Ju, professors of the Music Department at Seoul National University, and Min Ja Hyun, an honorary professor of the Music Department at Yonsei University, are leading each section as directors. In addition, a total of 13 professors are responsible for the private lessons given to students in each section.  

This music program will be offered in Seoul until the end of 2007 as a pilot curriculum. The school plans to recruit 45 students by March, and start full lessons in April. The selected students will get private, ensemble and group lessons. They will also have an audition in each semester of the year. The talented students selected in the auditions will go through intensive training programs offered by each section’s director, as well as having an opportunity to participate in a variety of musical contests at home and abroad.  

During vacation, the students will have a chance to experience varied classic education sessions such as “Special Lectures in Master Classes” given by world-renowned professors of the Julliard School of Music.  

Existing culture-related corporate social contribution programs are mostly limited to offering students an opportunity to view cultural performances or experience simple cultural events. On the other hand, the "SK Telecom Happy Music School" is designed to develop musical talents of disadvantaged youth, and provide them with in-depth classical music educations as well as increasing their cultural pride” said Choong Rae Cho, head of SK Telecom’s PR Office. “There are many gifted youth who simply don’t get the opportunities they deserve for reasons as wide-ranging as a physical disability or a dysfunctional family environment. Through this program, we will work hard to bring these youth out of the shadows thereby contributing to the further growth of our domestic classical music culture” he added.