About 300,000 selected photographs recording a five-year tour of performances by entertainment troupe Paper Windmill Theatre (紙風車劇團) were officially accepted into the permanent collection at the National Museum of History yesterday, highlighting years of devotion and effort by the group and its supporters’ that aim to bring arts to children living in the country’s 319 townships.
Dubbed First Mile, Kid’s Smile: Arts for Children in 319 Townships, the tour was envisioned as a cultural movement dedicated to youngsters who are deprived of access to the arts in the nation’s rural areas.
Not accepting any government funding in order to remain autonomous, the troupe relied on individual donors, volunteers and corporate sponsors to bring a live 90-minute performance to any township that could raise NT$350,000 for the production that required a crew of 20 to 30 people.
The tour began in Yilan County’s Yuanshan Township (員山) in 2006. For the next five years, the troupe ventured into each one of the country’s 319 townships as far afield as Wuciou Island (烏坵), Kinmen County, where there are only about 40 inhabitants. The last show took place in New Taipei City’s Wanli Township (萬里) on Dec. 3 last year, in front of an audience of more than 6,000 people.
Designed to showcase different facets of the performing arts, the production combined theatrical performances, music, dance and multimedia shows with puppetry and an autobiographical theatrical piece that recounted the on-the-road adventures of theater director Wu Nien-jen’s (吳念真) when he was eight years old.
According to Chuang Chiung-ju (莊瓊如), the group’s artistic director, the troupe owed its success to everybody that had participated in the tour.
“In remote villages such as in Alishan (阿里山), school teachers and parents would charter buses to send children to see our shows. One of our most memorable performances was in Jianshih (尖石) in Hsinchu County [a remote Atayal community], where kids came from different hamlets in the mountains during a typhoon,” Chuang said at a press conference yesterday.
The troupe raised more than NT$260 million in the past five years through donations, and it is estimated that nearly 800,000 people attended its performances.
National Museum of History Director Chang Yui-tan (張譽騰) said he was initially surprised when Lee Yung-feng (李永豐), chief executive of the Paper Windmill Cultural Foundation, approached him regarding collecting the photographs.
“I want to thank [the Paper Windmill] for reminding us that our museum is not just about collecting antiques, but is also obligated to build relations and dialogues with society,” Chang said.
The photographs documenting about 380 performances over five years were shot by 14 volunteer photographers, including Tsai Yu-hao (蔡育豪) and Kao Hsiu-min (高修民).
FINAL COUNTDOWN: About 50,000 attended a pro-recall rally yesterday, while the KMT and the TPP plan to rally against the recall votes today Democracy activists, together with arts and education representatives, yesterday organized a motorcade, while thousands gathered on Ketagalan Boulevard in Taipei in the evening in support of tomorrow’s recall votes. Recall votes for 24 Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers and suspended Hsinchu City mayor Ann Kao (高虹安) are to be held tomorrow, while recall votes for seven other KMT lawmakers are scheduled for Aug. 23. The afternoon motorcade was led by the Spring Breeze Culture and Arts Foundation, the Tyzen Hsiao Foundation and the Friends of Lee Teng-hui Association, and was joined by delegates from the Taiwan Statebuilding Party and the Taiwan Solidarity
‘NON-RED’: Taiwan and Ireland should work together to foster a values-driven, democratic economic system, leveraging their complementary industries, Lai said President William Lai (賴清德) yesterday expressed hopes for closer ties between Taiwan and Ireland, and that both countries could collaborate to create a values-driven, democracy-centered economic system. He made the remarks while meeting with an Irish cross-party parliamentary delegation visiting Taiwan. The delegation, led by John McGuinness, deputy speaker of the Irish house of representatives, known as the Dail, includes Irish lawmakers Malcolm Byrne, Barry Ward, Ken O’Flynn and Teresa Costello. McGuinness, who chairs the Ireland-Taiwan Parliamentary Friendship Association, is a friend of Taiwan, and under his leadership, the association’s influence has grown over the past few years, Lai said. Ireland is
Instead of threatening tariffs on Taiwan-made chips, the US should try to reinforce cooperation with Taiwan on semiconductor development to take on challenges from the People’s Republic of China (PRC), a Taiwanese think tank said. The administration of US President Donald Trump has threatened to impose across-the-board import duties of 32 percent on Taiwan-made goods and levy a separate tariff on semiconductors, which Taiwan is hoping to avoid. The Research Institute for Democracy, Society, and Emerging Technology (DSET), a National Science and Technology Council think tank, said that US efforts should focus on containing China’s semiconductor rise rather than impairing Taiwan. “Without
An SOS message in a bottle has been found in Ireland that is believed to have come from the Taiwanese captain of fishing vessel Yong Yu Sing No. 18 (永裕興18號), who has been missing without a trace for over four years, along with nine Indonesian crew members. The vessel, registered to Suao (蘇澳), went missing near Hawaii on Dec. 30, 2020. The ship has since been recovered, but the 10 crew members have never been found. The captain, surnamed Lee (李), is believed to have signed the note with his name. A post appeared on Reddit on Tuesday after a man