Council of Cultural Affairs (CCA) chairman Wang Tuoh (
"After Cloud Gate's rehearsal studio was destroyed in the recent fire, we've been rethinking our cultural policy," Wang told a news conference at the legislature yesterday.
"Right now we only have regulations to help individual artists in need, but nothing for groups affected by disaster," Wang said. "We will put together a draft bill that will help artists and performing groups in need."
The dance troupe's studio in Bali Township (八里), Taipei County, was ravished by fire on Monday. A major part of the building -- including props, costumes, scenery and office equipment -- was reduced to ashes.
In the days since the fire, the government has come under criticism for not providing enough support to performing groups such as Cloud Gate.
Lin was among the critics.
"The budget for [more than 60] performing arts groups was only NT$120 million [US$3.7 million] between 2001 and 2007 -- and it was cut by NT$20 million this year," Lin told Wang during their meeting at the council earlier yesterday morning. "That just does not leave enough."
Lin said the budget should be increased to NT$500 million.
Wang agreed that the budget was insufficient and promised to request a beefed-up budget for the next fiscal year.
"The total central government budget this year is NT$1.68 trillion. Of that, just 1.34 percent has been set aside for culture-related uses, and the CCA received only 0.36 percent," Wang said. "We'd like to increase the culture-related budget to between 3 percent and 4 percent, and the CCA budget to between 1.5 percent and 2 percent in the next fiscal year."
Wang promised to allow performing arts groups to use idle real estate owned by the government and to let Cloud Gate use the Taiwan Human Rights Jingmei Park (
The Ministry of Education (MOE) is to launch a new program to encourage international students to stay in Taiwan and explore job opportunities here after graduation, Deputy Minister of Education Yeh Ping-cheng (葉丙成) said on Friday. The government would provide full scholarships for international students to further their studies for two years in Taiwan, so those who want to pursue a master’s degree can consider applying for the program, he said. The fields included are science, technology, engineering, mathematics, semiconductors and finance, Yeh added. The program, called “Intense 2+2,” would also assist international students who completed the two years of further studies in
Former president Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) departed for Europe on Friday night, with planned stops in Lithuania and Denmark. Tsai arrived at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport on Friday night, but did not speak to reporters before departing. Tsai wrote on social media later that the purpose of the trip was to reaffirm the commitment of Taiwanese to working with democratic allies to promote regional security and stability, upholding freedom and democracy, and defending their homeland. She also expressed hope that through joint efforts, Taiwan and Europe would continue to be partners building up economic resilience on the global stage. The former president was to first
Former president Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) on Monday called for greater cooperation between Taiwan, Lithuania and the EU to counter threats to information security, including attacks on undersea cables and other critical infrastructure. In a speech at Vilnius University in the Lithuanian capital, Tsai highlighted recent incidents in which vital undersea cables — essential for cross-border data transmission — were severed in the Taiwan Strait and the Baltic Sea over the past year. Taiwanese authorities suspect Chinese sabotage in the incidents near Taiwan’s waters, while EU leaders have said Russia is the likely culprit behind similar breaches in the Baltic. “Taiwan and our European
The Taipei District Court sentenced babysitters Liu Tsai-hsuan (劉彩萱) and Liu Jou-lin (劉若琳) to life and 18 years in prison respectively today for causing the death of a one-year-old boy in December 2023. The Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office said that Liu Tsai-hsuan was entrusted with the care of a one-year-old boy, nicknamed Kai Kai (剴剴), in August 2023 by the Child Welfare League Foundation. From Sept. 1 to Dec. 23 that year, she and her sister Liu Jou-lin allegedly committed acts of abuse against the boy, who was rushed to the hospital with severe injuries on Dec. 24, 2023, but did not
RSS