Legislator Mark Ho (何志偉) of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) yesterday led legislators from across party lines in forming the Taiwan Arts and Culture Promotion Circle in a bid to promote the local arts and culture scene.
The group’s constitution says its purpose is to assist in the development of local arts and culture, while promoting artistic and cultural literacy; increase the importance that officials and members of the public give to art education and improve its quality; and invigorate the nation’s art market, ensuring sustainable development.
Art, in its essence, is an expression of the freedom of speech, Ho said at a founding meeting at the Legislative Yuan in Taipei.
Photo courtesy of Mark Ho’s office
Ho added that he hopes the nation would attract a greater share of the global art auction market.
This year, the Ministry of Culture is expected to push for amendments to the Act on Encouraging and Rewarding Cultural and Art Enterprises (文化藝術獎助條例), which would allow auctioned works of art to be taxed separately, no longer including income from auctioned works as artists’ personal income, he said.
In addition to pushing the passage of the amendments, he urged the ministry to look at examples of online auctions set up by institutions and artists in other nations.
Ho encouraged people to attend the fifth edition of Art Expo Taiwan, to be held at the Taipei World Trade Center from Sept. 10 to Sept. 13.
More than 25 lawmakers joined the circle, including New Power Party Legislator Claire Wang (王婉諭); DPP legislators Yu Tien (余天) and Wu Chi-ming (吳琪銘); and Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Lee Guei-min (李貴敏).
Ho is circle chair, while DPP legislators Fan Yun (范雲), Lin Chu-yin (林楚茵), Hsu Chih-chieh (許智傑) and Hung Sun-han (洪申翰), who also attended the meeting, are vice chairpersons.
Citing her experience as a university professor for more than 10 years, Fan said she believes that the younger generation is more capable in art and culture and in technology than her generation.
Twenty years ago, Taiwan had a booming art auction market, but some “incorrect” policy choices led auction houses to move to Hong Kong and Shanghai, Lin said.
The effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and the national security legislation imposed on Hong Kong are presenting Taiwan with new opportunities, she said.
Two people were killed and another nine injured yesterday after being stung by hornets while hiking in New Taipei City’s Rueifang District (瑞芳), with officials warning against wearing perfume or straying from trails during the autumn to avoid the potentially deadly creatures. Seven of the hikers only sustained minor injuries after being stung along the Bafenliao Hiking Trail (八分寮) and made their way down the mountain with a guide, the New Taipei City Fire Department said. Four of them — all male — sustained more serious injuries and were assisted when leaving the mountain, the department said. Two of them, a man surnamed
Recent movements by the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) have been “highly unusual,” but the military maintains a grasp of the situation, Minister of National Defense Chiu Kuo-cheng (邱國正) said on Friday, after the military for the first time said it was monitoring troop movements in China’s Dacheng Bay (大埕灣). The minister gave the remarks to reporters before appearing at the legislature on the first day of its new session. The Ministry of National Defense on Thursday evening released an air force surveillance photograph of a PLA Shaanxi Y-8 anti-submarine aircraft, and said it was monitoring the PLA Rocket Force and ground
‘ABNORMITY’: News of the military exercises on the coast of the Chinese province facing Taiwan were made public by the Ministry of National Defense on Thursday Taiwan’s military yesterday said it has detected the Chinese military initiating a round of exercises at a bay area in coastal Fujian Province, which faces Taiwan, since early yesterday morning and it has been closely monitoring the drills. The exercises being conducted at Fujian’s Dacheng Bay featured an undisclosed number of People’s Liberation Army’s (PLA) warplanes, warships and ground troops, the Ministry of National Defense said in a press statement. The ministry did not disclose what kind of military exercises are being conducted there and for how long they would be happening, but it did say that it has been closely watching
China’s Office of the Commissioner of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Hong Kong has asked foreign consulates in Hong Kong to submit details of their local staff, which is more proof that the “one country, two systems” model no longer exists, a Taiwanese academic said. The office sent letters dated Monday last week to consulates in the territory, giving them one month to submit the information it requires. The move followed Beijing’s attempt to obtain floor plans for all properties used by foreign missions in Hong Kong last year, which raised concerns among diplomats that the information could be used for