The Ministry of Culture has launched three subsidy programs to encourage the creation of Taiwanese operas and designated the National Center for Traditional Arts’ Kaohsiung Precinct as the hub for the art form.
The first program, submissions for which are being accepted online until June 16, encourages the recreation of classic plays by adapting, rearranging or incorporating music and visual designs, the ministry said.
Traditional performing arts groups that have registered with the government are eligible to apply for the program to gain a subsidy of up to NT$2 million (US$61,707), it said.
Photo: Chen Yi-chuan, Taipei Times
Chosen submissions must be performed at Chungshan Hall Theater (中山堂劇場) in the National Center for Traditional Arts’ Kaohsiung Precinct later this year, followed by a tour of at least three shows within a year of the opera’s debut, the ministry said.
The subsidy would be provided in three stages: before and after the show at Chungshan Hall Theater, and after the tour, it said.
The second program focuses on productions created by young people, and would require at least one screenwriter or director and two main actors to be under the age of 40, the ministry said.
Submissions would be open online from tomorrow to July 1, it said.
Those selected for the program would receive a subsidy of up to NT$3 million and would be required to perform the submitted play at Chungshan Hall Theater next year, the ministry said.
The final program is dedicated to larger-scale productions that would be suitable for the National Theater and Concert Hall (國家兩廳院) in Taipei, the National Taichung Theater (台中國家歌劇院) and the National Kaohsiung Center for the Arts (衛武營國家藝術文化中心), the ministry said.
The submitted play should be a new creation and can incorporate other art forms as long as its core is Taiwanese opera, it said.
The program is open for online submissions from tomorrow to July 31, and would offer up to NT$7 million to each selected entry, it said.
The ministry said it has designated the National Center for Traditional Arts’ Kaohsiung Precinct as the hub for Taiwanese opera, as the city is home to the largest number of Taiwanese opera troupes in the country.
The precinct, which began its soft opening last month, consists of the newly renovated Chungshan Hall Theater and a new complex for exhibitions, events and rehearsals, the ministry said.
The hall was opened in 1950 as a gathering place for the navy and was later converted into a movie theater, which was open from the 1960s to 2009, it said.
The Kaohsiung City Government registered the hall as a historical building in 2013, the ministry said, adding that it began renovating it in 2017.
INCREASED CAPACITY: The flights on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays would leave Singapore in the morning and Taipei in the afternoon Singapore Airlines is adding four supplementary flights to Taipei per week until May to meet increased tourist and business travel demand, the carrier said on Friday. The addition would raise the number of weekly flights it operates to Taipei to 18, Singapore Airlines Taiwan general manager Timothy Ouyang (歐陽漢源) said. The airline has recorded a steady rise in tourist and business travel to and from Taipei, and aims to provide more flexible travel arrangements for passengers, said Ouyang, who assumed the post in July last year. From now until Saturday next week, four additional flights would depart from Singapore on Monday, Wednesday, Friday
Taiwan’s three major international carriers are increasing booking fees, with EVA Airways having already increased the charge to US$28 per flight segment from US$25, while China Airlines (CAL) and Starlux Airlines are set to follow suit. Booking fees are charged by airlines through a global distribution system (GDS) and passed on to passengers. Carriers that apply the fees include CAL, EVA, Starlux and Tigerair Taiwan. A GDS is a computerized network operated by a company that connects airlines with travel agents and ticketing platforms, allowing reservations to be made and processed in real time. Major players include Amadeus, Sabre and Travelport. EVA Air began
WATCH FOR HITCHHIKERS: The CDC warned those returning home from Japan to be alert for any contagious diseases that might have come back with them People who have returned from Japan following the World Baseball Classic (WBC) games during the weekend are recommended to watch for symptoms of infectious gastroenteritis, flu and measles for two weeks, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said. Flu viruses remain the most common respiratory pathogen in Taiwan in the past four weeks and the influenza B virus accounted for 55.7 percent of the tested cases, exceeding the percentage of influenza A (H3N2) infections and becoming the local dominant strain, CDC Epidemic Intelligence Center Deputy Director Lee Chia-lin (李佳琳) said at a news conference on Tuesday. There were 82,187 hospital visits for
Alumni from Japan’s Kyoto Tachibana Senior High School marching band, widely known as the “Orange Devils,” staged a flash mob performance at the Grand Hotel in Taipei yesterday to thank Taiwan for its support after the Great East Japan Earthquake. The show, performed on the earthquake’s 15th anniversary, drew more than 100 spectators, some of whom arrived two hours before the show to secure a good viewing spot. The 26-member group played selections from “High School Musical,” “Beauty and the Beast,” and their signature piece “Sing Sing Sing” and shouted “I love
RSS