Taiwan, a unique “state”, is officially named as the Republic of China, but not recognised as a country by the United Nations and most of the countries in the world. With this complicated historical background, the political and legal status of Taiwan is a contentious issue. However, over many years, the arts and cultural exchanges have become major channels for Taiwan to connect with the rest of the world. The performing arts has played a vital role and led to the worldwide success of particular Taiwanese companies.
For the past 30 years, there has been only one national cultural center, the National Chiang Kai-shek Cultural Centre (National Theatre & Concert Hall) supporting Taiwanese performing arts companies, as well as introducing international programmes to Taiwan. On 2 April, 2014, the new National Performing Arts Center of Taiwan, an umbrella organisation consisting of three venues in different parts of the country, was opened. It marks a brand new era for Taiwan, in terms of the cultural environment, and this doctoral research will investigate the role and responsibility of the National Performing Arts Center from different angles in relation to cultural identity. The project will offer an analysis of the cultural policy framework, but also examine the current arts management situation of Taiwan.
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Meng-Yu Lai completed a Diploma in English Language for Arts and Social Science at Goldsmiths in 2001, and MA in Arts Management at the University of Greenwich in 2003. He has been working as the programmer and then Assistant Manager in Programming and Marketing Department at Taiwan’s National Theatre & Concert Hall (now the National Performing Arts Center) from 2003-14. During this period of time, he collaborated with many international performing arts companies, as well as was involved with various productions. For years, he’s travelled around the world for conferences, festivals and meetings, including the ‘International Visitor Leadership Program’ on the invitation of the United States Department of the US in 2013. Taiwanese Government has awarded him a scholarship to undertake PhD research in the UK.
