The Ministry of Culture and its new affiliated administrative institution, the Taiwan Creative Content Agency, are next year to launch two expansive plans, each of which is to be allocated NT$10 billion (US$328.8 million), Minister of Culture Cheng Li-chiun (鄭麗君) said yesterday.
The move is an effort to boost Taiwan’s audiovisual and music industries, as well as investment in Taiwanese culture, Cheng said at a ceremony in Taipei to formally inaugurate the agency.
One of the two five-year plans is to be carried out by the ministry’s Bureau of Audiovisual and Music Industry Development and would aim to promote the development of the nation’s film, TV and music industries, she said.
The other would involve the agency launching initiatives aimed at generating private investment in Taiwanese culture through a NT$10 billion fund from the National Development Fund managed by the Executive Yuan, she added.
The Executive Yuan-approved five-year project, named Huashan 2.0, would expand Taipei’s Huashan 1914 Creative Park (華山1914文化創意產業園區), Cheng said, adding that the expanded cultural content industry cluster would be operated by the agency.
The agency is tasked with fostering the “development of Taiwan’s new economy in the cultural area” by integrating the nation’s technological strengths with its cultural content; accelerating the cross-field application of culture and technologies; and establishing a platform for innovative start-ups in the cultural content industry, she said.
Agency Chairwoman Ting Hsiao-ching (丁曉菁) detailed the agency’s four-pronged investment strategy: production, distribution, branding and industrial alliances.
The agency has attracted investors for projects aimed at integrating relevant over-the-top businesses in the development and production of Taiwanese content; encouraging the incubation of new Taiwanese brands; and accelerating the output of Taiwan-made films and TV programs, she said.
Cheng cited a survey conducted last year on the nation’s cultural and innovative industries as saying that the number of people working in the cultural industry totaled 260,000 — more than 1 percent of the nation’s population.
The industry’s output increased from NT$820 billion in 2016 to nearly NT$880 billion last year, a historic high, which Cheng said represents the beginning of the rise of the “Taiwan trend” in the cultural arena.
President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) described the agency as the national team for the development of the nation’s cultural content and expressed the hope that it would help Taiwan become increasingly active on the international stage.
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