Friendly Dog Entertainment yesterday began selling tickets to this year’s Spring Wave Music and Art Festival, despite not having Taipei City Government approval to rent the Dajia Riverside Park (大佳河濱公園) for the event.
The company on Wednesday said it would move the festival from Pingtung County’s Kenting Township (墾丁) to Taipei after the Pingtung County Government denied it the use of Hengchun Airport.
Democratic Progressive Party Taipei City Councilor Liang Wen-chieh (梁文傑) on Wednesday said the Taipei Department of Cultural Affairs is considering offering Friendly Dog a 50 percent discount on the rental fee of about NT$1 million (US$29,828).
Liang said that tickets for the festival were already on sale, despite Friendly Dog Entertainment not having qualified for use of the park or the venue discount.
He criticized the city government for considering the offer, saying that if it is granted, it would set an unnecessary precedent for events held in Taipei.
Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) said he did not know of a rumored authorization issued by former Department of Cultural Affairs commissioner Ni Chung-hwa (倪重華) — who is now a city government project manager — to Friendly Dog promising the discounted fees.
However, remarks by officials signaled a flip-flop in the department’s stance on granting the discount.
Department Cultural and Creative Development Division head Wu Chun-ming (吳俊銘) said the department had ruled out the possibility of the discount, as the company could not tender a satisfactory reward proposal that would benefit Taipei residents.
The two sides reached an agreement on Wednesday that the fees would be charged at their original rates, Wu said.
However, his remarks were rejected by Department of Cultural Affairs Commissioner Beatrice Hsieh (謝佩霓) later in the day, who said it was the department’s job to nurture all cultural organizations.
“My predecessors fought for discounts with hope to nurture professional [cultural] groups,” Hsieh said.
She said that although the department is in charge of supervising the event, the city’s Hydraulic Engineering Office, as the park’s administrator, would make the decision whether to allow the firm to use the park.
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