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Ma meets with Cloud Gate Dance boss Lin Hwai-min

Ma Ying-jeou, left, is welcomed by Cloud Gate Dance Theatre founder Lin Hwai-min at the company’s Taipei office yesterday. PHOTO: SAM YEH, AFP

President-elect Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) visited Cloud Gate Dance Theatre founder and artistic director Lin Hwai-min (林懷民) yesterday and vowed to become a “cultural president” by providing more subsidies to cultural and performing groups to keep their roots in Taiwan.

Ma said he would establish a Ministry of Culture and Tourism and increase the budget for the cultural sector from 1.3 percent of the general budget to 4 percent.

“I will develop the nation with culture, and be a cultural president. We will promote our cultural industry to the world,” Ma said after meeting Lin at Cloud Gate’s Taipei office.

Lin shared his concerns that the government has long ignored of the cultural industry and called on the next director-general of the Council for Cultural Affairs, Huang Pi-twan (黃碧端), to carry out Ma’s cultural platform.

If the government fails to develop cultural industries, many performing arts groups that are moving more of their operations to China will become Chinese groups within five years, Lin said.

Ma has proposed merging the culture and tourism industries and said he has budgeted NT$30 billion (US$900 million) for the development of local cultural and tourism industries.

But Lin said the goal of increasing the budget for cultural industries would not be reached soon, and the government should focus its efforts on examining laws and regulations that cover cultural industries and focus on creating a friendlier environment for artists.

“It’s crucial to provide artists with a good environment to create, to survive and to make progress,” Lin said.

“The government should make greater efforts to make artists’ works an important part of people’s lives,” he said.
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