I attended a meeting in Greater Taichung on Nov. 4 to review applications for financial aid from a performing arts center. In the end, all 44 applications were reduced to just applications to use the venue because the city government lacked the funds to sponsor or subsidize performances. This is the situation of many performing arts centers. It has reached the point where performing arts educators such as myself must voice our frustration.
So then how could the government allow the audacious budget — of NT$215 million (US$7.13 million) — for Dreamers (夢想家), a rock musical performed for two evenings in Taichung as part of the Republic of China’s centennial celebrations?
The less immediate reason is the antiquated Government Procurement Act (政府採購法), which fails to meet the demands of events or complement the ways in which performance events are typically organized. However, an unwillingness to amend the act has caused cities and counties throughout the nation, and even the Council for Cultural Affairs, to set up foundations to avoid government supervision. Once the budget funds have been effectively laundered through these foundations, divided up and spent on subcontractors, legal action is not possible. After all the money has been spent, there are a number of trails leading back to this oligarchy of trusts, but it is merely regarded as a flaw in procedural policies.
The more immediate reason was that those in power were busy celebrating themselves and serving their own agendas and felt that expanding the scope of the event was a good opportunity to significantly increase the budget. However, in the process of moving the money around, they have excluded those that would normally get a share of arts funding, leaving the average performing arts troupe out in the rain without an umbrella.
Putting on a performance or cultural event requires technical personnel to help with lighting, sound effects, costumes and so on, which usually means that you hire people outside your troupe. Some of the better-off centers are able to subcontract the work to outside companies.
If all this money had been used more efficiently and dispersed evenly throughout all of Taiwan’s cities and counties, each would have received about NT$10 million, which is not only enough to hire people, but also enough to significantly nurture and foster local art troupes and develop local talent.
If the increased number of performances by the troupes receiving these subsidies resulted in increased revenues, the NT$215 million would be worth far more than two sold-out performances of Dreamers at Taichung’s Fulfillment Amphitheater. Furthermore, ensuring the quality of sound and ability to see the performers at a huge outdoor theater such as this are formidable tasks.
It should not be too difficult to deal with the disillusionment over Dreamers. If an evaluation committee was established, it should be fairly easy to find out what went wrong. It would also be possible to see the connections between many of the big projects in recent years by running a thorough check on the addresses of contractors and the payment records.
Everyone must understand that for art and culture to be meaningful, it must be created for its own sake.
As soon as art becomes a political dance, regardless of how creative it is, or how great the cast, it will always meet the same fate: It will be abandoned by audiences.
Yang Chyi-wen is dean of the School of Theater at Taipei National University of the Arts.
Translated by Kyle Jeffcoat
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