The Ministry of Culture, American Institute in Taiwan (AIT), and Fulbright Taiwan jointly held a press conference on August 31 in which Minister of Culture Lee Yung-te, AIT director Sandra Oudkirk, and Executive Director of Fulbright Taiwan Randall L. Nadeau jointly signed and announced the "Fulbright – Taiwan Ministry of Culture, Arts Professionals Grants."
"Fulbright – Taiwan Ministry of Culture, Arts Professionals Grants" is jointly pushed by MOC and Foundation for Scholarly Exchange (Fulbright Taiwan) which runs the Fulbright Program.
MOC cooperated with the Fulbright Program for the first time in 2018 to select artists and cultural professionals to exchange in the United States. As a leading global education and cultural exchange platform, 1,700 Taiwanese scholars have been sponsored thus far.
Cultural Minister Lee Yung-te hopes that the exchange program not only provides artists and cultural professionals with more opportunities to learn, but also deepens cultural exchange between Taiwan and the United States, and in turn enhance the international community’s understanding of Taiwan.
Lee Yung-te expressed gratitude to AIT and Foundation for Scholarly Exchange (Fulbright Taiwan) for their strong support, and their efforts in seeking support from the U.S. State Department in addition to pointing out the significance of upgrading the Fulbright Program on its 75th anniversary.
In addition, the press conference announced the two Taiwanese performing groups that were selected to tour the United States for a month between 2022 and 2023 under the U.S. State Department’s Center Stage exchange program: Resident Island Dance Theatre (滯留島舞蹈劇場) and Twincussion (雙子二重奏).
Resident Island Dance Theatre explores the dialogue between space, time, movement and gestures with novel and creative body dynamics in a way that is not only emotional, but also concerned for social issues. Twincussion, on the other hand, is committed to promoting Taiwanese folk songs to the world, and uniquely interprets Western classical music and contemporary composition.