The Ministry of Culture yesterday announced a list of 40 individuals or groups who, under its new policy, will receive financial support to exhibit or publish their art for the first time.
Among them are psychiatrist Lin Tzu-yao (林子堯), who will publish his first comic book on the lives of doctors, and 74-year-old former fast food shop owner Chen Chao-ming (陳朝銘), who will hold his first exhibition of ceramic dogs next month.
Under the new policy, selected artists can receive funds to launch their first publication, exhibition, performance, screening or other public exhibition of their works, the ministry said.
Individuals are eligible to apply for up to NT$300,000 (US$10,000) in subsidies, while companies, schools, and other institutions and groups can apply for a maximum of NT$1 million.
Lin said he hopes that his sometimes satirical four-frame comic strips, which portray hospitals and the lives of doctors, can show readers the secrets behind the men and women in the white coats.
A comic book fan since he was a child, Lin said being a psychiatrist gave him the opportunity to witness many “bizarre, bittersweet, joyous and sorrowful” events in hospital wards.
Also among those to receive a subsidy are composer Huang Chun-ta (黃俊達), who will release his first album, combining choir music with lyrics inspired by renowned Taiwanese writers, and dancer and artistic director Lin Li-chuan (林立川), whose newly founded company will give its first performance showcasing his choreography.
Lin’s performances combine ballet, modern dance and cross-disciplinary artwork.
Minister of Culture Lung Ying-tai (龍應台) said her ministry has opened up the policy to people of all ages because young people are not the only ones who are creative and able to inspire.
“Taiwan does not lack talent. It only lacks platforms,” said Stan Shih (施振榮), founder of Acer and chairman of the National Culture and Arts Foundation, which executes the policy, adding that it is important to establish a good mechanism to showcase Taiwanese talent.
A total of NT$13 million in subsidies is to be handed out under the program each year. It plans to subsidize projects ranging from literature, visual arts and music to dance, animation and film, the ministry said.
The 40 individuals and groups were selected from more than 200 applicants.
Japanese footwear brand Onitsuka Tiger today issued a public apology and said it has suspended an employee amid allegations that the staff member discriminated against a Vietnamese customer at its Taipei 101 store. Posting on the social media platform Threads yesterday, a user said that an employee at the store said that “those shoes are very expensive” when her friend, who is a migrant worker from Vietnam, asked for assistance. The employee then ignored her until she asked again, to which she replied: "We don't have a size 37." The post had amassed nearly 26,000 likes and 916 comments as of this
Taiwanese can file complaints with the Tourism Administration to report travel agencies if their activities caused termination of a person’s citizenship, Mainland Affairs Council Minister Chiu Chui-cheng (邱垂正) said yesterday, after a podcaster highlighted a case in which a person’s citizenship was canceled for receiving a single-use Chinese passport to enter Russia. The council is aware of incidents in which people who signed up through Chinese travel agencies for tours of Russia were told they could obtain Russian visas and fast-track border clearance, Chiu told reporters on the sidelines of an event in Taipei. However, the travel agencies actually applied
US President Donald Trump said "it’s up to" Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) what China does on Taiwan, but that he would be "very unhappy" with a change in the "status quo," the New York Times said in an interview published yesterday. Xi "considers it to be a part of China, and that’s up to him what he’s going to be doing," Trump told the newspaper on Wednesday. "But I’ve expressed to him that I would be very unhappy if he did that, and I don’t think he’ll do that," he added. "I hope he doesn’t do that." Trump made the comments in
Tourism in Kenting fell to a historic low for the second consecutive year last year, impacting hotels and other local businesses that rely on a steady stream of domestic tourists, the latest data showed. A total of 2.139 million tourists visited Kenting last year, down slightly from 2.14 million in 2024, the data showed. The number of tourists who visited the national park on the Hengchun Peninsula peaked in 2015 at 8.37 million people. That number has been below 2.2 million for two years, although there was a spike in October last year due to multiple long weekends. The occupancy rate for hotels
RSS