The Ministry of Culture’s budget should be redrafted to allocate subsidies toward developing local talent, while increasing support for disadvantaged groups, Citizen Media Watch members said yesterday during a protest outside the Democratic Progressive Party’s (DPP) headquarters in Taipei.
Protesters from six groups called for DPP president-elect Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) to appoint a Minister of Culture with a subjective consciousness of Taiwanese culture, who is committed to supporting public television, advancing media access for disadvantaged groups, improving the working conditions of and offering education to workers in creative industries, and increasing the number of nonprofit performance venues and exhibit halls, particularly at historic sites.
“The amount of funding is important and how funding is allocated is even more important,” Citizen Media Watch convener Yeh Ta-hua (葉大華) said, adding that Tsai, in her cultural policy white paper, has failed to address how the nation should face the onslaught of globalization.
“Cultural workers are not fairy spirits who survive by eating wind and drinking dew,” Taipei Documentary Filmakers’ Unions secretary-general Huang Hui-chen (黃惠偵) said, calling for the ministry’s funding to be more than doubled from the current less than 1 percent of the national budget.
Campaign for Media Reform secretary-general Chang Chun-yen (張春炎) said the budget for the Taiwan Public Television Service should be increased to NT$3.5 billion (US$107 million) from NT$ 900 million so that it can provide a full platform for people from different disadvantaged and ethnic groups.
“Taiwan has always been a diverse immigrant society and only if we develop different cultures by enabling them to have a platform will Taiwan be able to develop a beautiful, colorful culture relative to other nations,” he said, adding that the ministry’s NT$6 billion subsidy for film productions should be consolidated under an independent foundation to ensure it is not used for “fireworks” and “gilding lilies.”
Activists emphasized the need to establish clear parameters for awarding ministry subsidies to avoid them being channeled to corporate foundations and foreign artists, adding that bureaucracy favors proposals that can be easily processed at the expense of artistic value.
“Many artistic foundations established by large corporations have been able to secure huge subsidies, crowding out original and experimental content from disadvantaged groups who truly need subsidies,” Association of Visual Arts in Taiwan representative Hu Yung-fen (胡永芬) said, adding that wealthy foundations hold an advantage in securing government grants because of their ability to hire substantial staff to draft proposals.
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