Ruizendaal also lamented that Taiwan, not unlike other Asian countries heavily influenced by Western pop culture, was facing a lack of interest among young people in traditional puppetry.
“There are people coming from France and Spain to study Taiwanese puppetry at our museum, but local youth think it’s more sexy to become film makers, video artists or disc jockeys,” he said. “It seems crazy to them to study the obsolete puppetry. There is a crisis to pass on the craft if nobody wants to learn it.”
Ruizendaal hopes the puppet museum can attract new blood by offering free puppeteer apprenticeships.
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