Tainan Mayor Huang Wei-che (黃偉哲) on Thursday expressed support for a Ministry of Culture proposal to establish a comic book and animation museum in the city.
The proposal calls for the new museum — which was originally planned for Taichung — to be built in the Tainan Cultural and Creative Park.
Huang said that he strongly recommended that the ministry choose Tainan for the project, as the city “is rich in historical resources, and has well-developed cultural industries and an abundance of creative talent.”
“Tainan has all the resources in place for the research, training and production of animation and comic illustration,” he said.
“Building the museum here would be highly beneficial to the development of Taiwan’s comic and animation industry,” he added.
Another reason Tainan is suitable for the museum is that more than 10 tertiary education institutions in the city have animation and design programs, and it has the only university department in the country focused on comic design — the Department of Comic Art at the Tainan University of Technology, the Tainan Cultural Affairs Bureau said.
“The potential of industry fueled by the talent these programs create is immense, covering the creation of new intellectual property and licenses, game development and film adaptation,” the bureau said.
“Tainan’s rich cultural history can also be a source of animation and comic themes, which can reap huge economic benefits,” it said.
Tainan had originally sought to host the proposed museum in 2020, planning to build it alongside the second phase of the National Museum of Taiwan History in Annan District (安南).
“The National Museum of Taiwan History sits on a vast plot of 20 hectares. Locating the comics museum on the same plot would create a cultural space greater than the sum of the two museums,” the bureau said.
While the bureau’s proposal has merit, the ministry said it would prefer to build the comic museum next to the Tainan Railway Station to facilitate easy access.
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