The Ministry of Culture and Fulbright Taiwan convened a press conference on April 13 calling for applications for the Taiwan-US Scholarship Exchange Program for Professionals in Arts Administration.
Wu Shao-kai, director-general of the Ministry of Culture's Department of Cultural Exchange, and William Vocke, executive director of Fulbright Taiwan, signed a memorandum of understanding at the conference. Deputy Minister of Culture Yang Tzu-pao and Jesse Curtis, chairman of Fulbright Taiwan, were in attendance.
Cloud Gate Dance Theatre Artistic Director Lin Hwai-min, himself a Fulbright scholar, made a special appearance at the event. He affirmed the significance of the program and encouraged arts administrators from around Taiwan to make the leap and apply, emphasizing how it would be an opportunity to broaden horizons and bring back new, international insights.
From 2019 through 2022, three candidates a year will be chosen for studies in the US. The program is open to applications in four major fields — arts administration, policy research and development, international marketing (for arts and culture), and copyright policy studies (for arts and culture) — and falls under the category of "Non-Academic Professionals Fulbright Grants."
Deputy Minister Yang noted that expanding Taiwan-US artistic talent exchange has long been an important policy direction for the Ministry of Culture, and that Fulbright Taiwan's position as part of the US State Department's respected Fulbright Program makes them an ideal partner to administer such an effort.
The program is the result of many discussions with the American Institute in Taiwan, he added, all with an eye to the importance of cultivating domestic arts administration talent, strengthening cultural cooperation between Taiwan and the US, and bringing forth a more robust arts environment in Taiwan.
Vocke and Curtis both noted that the Fulbright Program has established joint projects in some 155 countries around the world and has a six-decade history in Taiwan, with some of Taiwan's top talent in a range of fields participating in the program throughout the years.
The addition of arts administration to the fold, with the support of the Ministry of Culture, can only serve to further enrich Taiwan-US cultural exchange, and Taiwan can look forward to even more opportunities for international cooperation in the future.
The deadline for applications to the Non-Academic Professionals Fulbright Grants program for the 2019-2020 period is Oct. 31, 2018. To make the most of this opportunity, those interested should consult the Non-Academic Professionals Fulbright Grants webpage.