•Publication Date：03/04/2014
•Source： Taiwan Today
A groundbreaking ceremony for the Maritime Cultural and Popular Music Center was held March 3 in Kaohsiung City, underscoring the ROC government’s commitment to further developing cultural and creative industries nationwide.
Pop music is central to the Cabinet’s development strategy for Taiwan’s cultural and creative industries, Premier Jiang Yi-huah said during the ceremony.
The government plans to inject more than NT$20 billion (US$660.1 million) into the flagship industries of design, digital content, film, handicrafts, pop music and TV, generating more than NT$1 trillion in production value and creating 200,000 jobs, he added.
Also attending the event in southern Taiwan was Minister of Culture Lung Ying-tai and Kaohsiung Mayor Chen Chu.
According to Lung, Taiwan’s pop music industry is chalking up steady growth, with overall production value jumping 75.47 percent from 2009 to 2012. In addition, the industry is seeing increased revenues generated by live music performances, she said.
Taiwan recorded a 133.66 percent surge in concert revenue over the past four years, Lung said, adding that the MOC’s NT$10 billion investment in two pop music centers in Kaohsiung and Taipei City will help expand the scale of the industry.
Situated between Piers 11 and 15 of Kaohsiung Port, the NT$5.45 billion center will include a 5,000-seat indoor concert hall, a 12,000-seat outdoor concert venue, six smaller performance halls, a maritime cultural exhibition center and assorted peripheral facilities.
Construction is scheduled for completion in 2017.
