Taiwan has taken its first steps towards becoming an international hub for arts and cultural nonprofit organizations by partnering with Living Arts International to hold a series of cultural exchanges with the Mekong River region.
"SEAΔ Exchange," an international program co-organized with the British Council and the Mekong Cultural Hub, hopes to bring together 12 regional representatives from Burma, Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam, Taiwan, and Thailand to create a transnational network for sharing information, resources, and cultural research.
As an inspiring new program for cultural practitioners ready to take the lead on using arts and culture to drive Southeast Asian development through the pursuit of SDGs (sustainable development goals), regional partnerships, and the promotion of civil society, the joint initiative has four main objectives: exchange, create, share, then reflect.
The first stage of "SEAΔ Exchange" took place in Taipei from Nov. 26 through 30. The four-day workshop was joined by 10 participants representing 10 nations — Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Taiwan, Thailand, Vietnam, the Philippines, and the United Kingdom — and they formulated a one-year blueprint for engaging in cultural experimentation in four different Asian cities. The representatives will meet again in Bangkok for July 2019, and in Yangon for September 2019.
For artists, administrators, managers, policymakers, and other cultural practitioners who hope to contribute to the sustainable development of Southeast Asia through individual and collective leadership, the latest opportunities for becoming a Fellow of the "SEAΔ Exchange" program will be announced here: https://mekongculturalhub.org/portfolio/sead-program/.
The New York-based Living Arts International has long been invested in Southeast Asian culture and arts. Under a four-year agreement signed between the Ministry of Culture and Living Arts International, the organization has registered its Taipei office as "Living Arts International Taiwan Office" and will now be operating from the Taiwan Contemporary Culture Lab in Da'an District to promote cultural exchanges, incubate new talent, and open up transnational opportunities.