The Council for Cultural Affairs will step up the nurturing of artistic and cultural talent in southern Taiwan in anticipation of the construction of an arts and culture center there, Minister Chiu Kun-liang (邱坤良) said yesterday.
He made the remarks when he met with the cultural heads of local governments, the second such meeting this year sponsored by the council.
Chiu was referring to the Weiwu Camp Arts and Cultural Center to be located in a 66-hectare park on the border of Kaohsiung City and Kaohsiung County.
Chiu said that in anticipation of the construction of the center, the council would have to step up cultural talent nurturing, adding that the work should start now.
He announced a plan for the development of performing arts in southern Taiwan, saying that the first stage will be carried out between next year and 2009 and will cover the cities of Kaohsiung, Tainan and Chiayi and the counties of Yunlin, Pingtung, Kaohsiung, Tainan and Chiayi.
Yang Hsuan-chin (楊宣勤), a council departmental director, said that the plan is aimed at helping the development of performing groups in southern Taiwan, providing them with a wholesome and creative environment so that they will be able to gradually upgrade themselves into world-class performing groups.
Chiu said that in central Taiwan, Taichung is also currently planning to construct an opera house.
The council wants to upgrade the cultural environment in central Taiwan as well as in eastern Taiwan, he said.
Meanwhile, faced with the closure of the Min Sheng Daily, a newspaper which made a priority of cultural news, as well as the shrinking space for cultural news in other newspapers, Chiu said that he is mulling the possibility of launching a cultural newspaper. However, cultural officials attending the meeting differed on whether to publish a newspaper or cooperate with established media outlets.
EVA Airways today confirmed the death of a flight attendant on Saturday upon their return to Taiwan and said an internal investigation has been launched, as criticism mounted over a social media post accusing the airline of failing to offer sufficient employee protections. According to the post, the flight attendant complained of feeling sick on board a flight, but was unable to take sick leave or access medical care. The crew member allegedly did not receive assistance from the chief purser, who failed to heed their requests for medical attention or call an ambulance once the flight landed, the post said. As sick
A drunk woman was sexually assaulted inside a crowded concourse of Taipei Railway Station on Thursday last week before a foreign tourist notified police, leading to calls for better education on bystander intervention and review of security infrastructure. The man, surnamed Chiu (邱), was taken into custody on charges of sexual assault, taking advantage of the woman’s condition and public indecency. Police discovered that Chiu was a fugitive with prior convictions for vehicle theft. He has been taken into custody and is to complete his unserved six-month sentence, police said. On Thursday last week, Chiu was seen wearing a white
EVA Airways, one of the leading international carriers in Taiwan, yesterday said that it was investigating reports that a cabin crew manager had ignored the condition of a sick flight attendant, who died on Saturday. The airline made the statement in response to a post circulating on social media that said that the flight attendant on an outbound flight was feeling sick and notified the cabin crew manager. Although the flight attendant grew increasingly ill on the return flight, the manager did not contact Medlink — a system that connects the aircraft to doctors on the ground for treatment advice during medical
The Taichung District Court yesterday confirmed its final ruling that the marriage between teenage heir Lai (賴) and a man surnamed Hsia (夏) was legally invalid, preventing Hsia from inheriting Lai’s NT$500 million (US$16.37 million) estate. The court confirmed that Hsia chose not to appeal the civil judgement after the court handed down its ruling in June, making the decision final. In the June ruling, the court said that Lai, 18, and Hsia, 26, showed “no mutual admiration before the marriage” and that their interactions were “distant and unfamiliar.” The judge concluded that the couple lacked the “true intention of
RSS