Department of Cultural Affairs

Rewritten by Leo R. Maliksi
 
The 2018 Taipei-Shanghai Forum was held at the Regent Taipei on Dec. 20. The theme of the Forum this year was “Sustainable City, Sustainable Development.” One of the four categories of the Forum was on “Cultural Creative Industries: Development and Cooperation.” Taipei Cultural Foundation (台北市文化基金會), Taipei Film Commission (台北市電影委員會), and the Shanghai Broadcasting Film & Television Producers Association (上海市廣播影視製作業協會) signed a Memorandum of Understanding to utilize the resources of each signatory to achieve win-win situations in cooperative projects.
 
Chung Yung-feng, the outgoing commissioner of Taipei City Government’s Department of Cultural Affairs (DOCA) was the convener of the sub-forum. In the morning, representatives from both cities delivered speeches on their cultural creative industries. In the afternoon, other speakers dealt with the film and fashion industries.


Photo from DOCA
Taipei Cultural Foundation, Taipei Film Commission, and the Shanghai Broadcasting
Film & Television Producers Association sign a Memorandum of Understanding.


Photo from DOCA
DOCA Commissioner Chung Yeng-feng and Mr. Jin Lei, assistant chief of
Shanghai City Cultural and Travel Bureau gave speeches during the forum.

“We will re-shape Taipei City’s cultural policy of promoting the cultural creative industries,” said Chung, “by focusing on brand building and developing those industries along three main directions.”
 
Those directions include maintaining the traditional and modern images of Taipei; fostering a greater atmosphere of freedom; and promoting inter-disciplinary cooperation. Following these three directions will hopefully lead to building a platform for cultural creativity and increasing international links.


Photo from DOCA
Some participants to the 2018 Taipei-Shanghai Forum at the Regent Taipei.
 
Chung also cited three cultural festivals that for many played the role of effective platforms for the cultural creative industries: Taipei Literature Festival (臺北文學季), Taipei Film Festival (臺北電影節), and Nuit-Blanche Taipei (臺北白晝之夜).
 
In 2016, the World Design Capital exhibition served as a catalyst for Taipei to adopt a policy that promotes design. This year, implementation of that policy had some tangible results. They include the renovations done in some communities and parks, playing background music in some MRT stations, including art classes in the curricula of some public schools, and Taipei Design Action that was meant to help Taipei’s street performers improve their visual identity system.