The most pressing task for the Council for Cultural Affairs should be clarification of its administrative responsibilities to avoid wasteful overlap with other administrative agencies, legislators said yesterday.
At a meeting of the Legislative Yuan's Education and Culture Committee yesterday, PFP Legislator Diane Lee (李慶安) produced documents that she said showed the Ministry of Education's NT$100 million reading plan set for fiscal year 2001 contained items that were identical to a wasteful program carried out by the council last year.
The repetition of the unsuccessful program indicated a lack of coordination and administrative overlap plaguing the council, Lee said.
The council, a non-ministerial level agency under the supervision of the Executive Yuan, was established in 1981 with a brief to promote cultural activity and implement the country's cultural policies. It has been criticized for inefficiency, in part because of its low standing in the government and its lack of autonomy.
Lee said the council had an annual budget of NT$5.7 billion, which only accounts for one-third of the entire funding spent on the country's cultural affairs. The remaining two thirds are scattered among the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of the Interior and the Government Information Office.
"The splitting of management over cultural affairs has wasted too much government funding; and in many cases has seriously affected the execution of cultural policies," Lee said.
"In certain issues, governmental agencies will fight to be involved in certain programs, while nobody seems to care in other cases," she said
Ni Tsai-chin (倪再沁), director of the Taiwan Museum of Art, who attended yesterday's meeting, echoed Lee's comments. He recalled the obstacles he had run into while attempting to promote art events at schools.
Ni told the Taipei Times that he had organized an initiative named "Action Gallery" (行動美術館) in 1998 with funding from the provincial government. The activity assisted 17 elementary schools around the country to set up miniature galleries on campus, using empty classrooms. The project cost only about NT$6 million.
When he asked the council for funding in 1999, after the provincial government was downsized, the council rejected his application, saying the education ministry should supply funding. The education ministry, however, also rejected Ni, saying the program was a cultural activity. Having been unable to secure funding, the project was canceled this year.
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