Ministry of Culture-Performance Venues & Architectural Heritage

Highlights

Living Art Centers are community cultural centers run by the Ministry; there is currently one center each operating in the counties of Hsinchu, Changhua, Tainan, and Taitung. The main functions of these four subordinate organizations are:

• To promote the art of living and the appreciation of aesthetics through organizing lectures, exhibitions and related courses for local residents.

• To mobilize the nation's retired population, a group affectionately nicknamed "The Golden Crowd” and whose age range spans between 55 and 75 years old, in coaching new talents in the fields of local culture, creative arts, audiovisual and music, heritage preservation and historic research.

• To foster local artists and performing groups by helping to host exhibitions and concerts, organize countryside tours and promote performing arts at the grassroots level.

• To cultivate cultural and creative industries from the grassroots level by supporting micro-establishments, offering related courses and training, assisting with marketing and sales channels and lobbying for the sustainable development of traditional artisan industries.

• To empower communities by inviting the local residents to join in and speak up; through such engagement, residents will not only be able to share their personal stories and record their collective history, but also contribute to regional tourism opportunities and add to the overall diversity of Taiwan's culture.