Legislators yesterday demanded that the Ministry of Culture launch an investigation after video clips showed Jeunesse, a firm that sells skin-care products, holding a product launch event at the National Taichung Theater on Tuesday.
Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Huang Kuo-shu (黃國書), a member of the Education and Culture Committee, said playing at the theater was a dream for many performance groups; a place “they would die to set a foot inside.”
Huang said he backed a proposal to turn operations of the theater over to the government so Taichung would be exposed to more performing arts events, not so the facility could be used for commercial enterprises.
Photo: Tsai Shu-yuan, Taipei Times
Musicians and artists said the theater bullied artists, musicians and performers with red tape, while the theater was readily loaned out when it came to commercial use.
Theater Sales and Promotion Division manager Wu Li-chu (吳麗珠) issued a statement saying that Jeunesse’s reservation was approved because there was plenty of space in the schedule on Tuesday.
The theater will always prioritize applications from performing groups, but as there were no bookings scheduled for Jan. 10, the theater allowed the company to use the facilities, Wu said.
Wu said that the Metropolitan Museum and the Metropolitan Opera at the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts in New York allow flexible use of their facilities.
For performance groups, the theater is available at a daily rate of NT$100,000, while non-performance bookings have to pay NT$600,000 per day, she said.
The theater thought that Jeunesse rented the space for a membership meeting and only realized later that there would be a showcase of its products, Wu said, adding that the theater would take the lesson to heart and be more careful in reviewing applications.
Meanwhile, National Taiwan Normal University Graduate Institute of Performing Arts department chair Ho Kang-kuo (何康國) said the National Theater and the Concert Hall in Taipei have never encountered such a problem.
The issue is not the daily rate, but the purpose for which the theater was built, Ho said.
The theater has not followed the National Performing Arts Center’s principles, which is to deepen performing arts culture, Ho said, adding that the National Taichung Theater should redefine itself if there continues to be controversy.
Ju Tzong-ching (朱宗慶), chairman of the National Performing Arts Center, said he was surprised to hear of the incident and visited the theater yesterday to be briefed on the matter.
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