Sponsored by the Cultural Affairs Bureau of Taichung City Government, the Children's Arts Festival has entered its seventh anniversary this year. It is a special feature this year to launch an "Art Train" to connect all the activities to be held at the Huludun Cultural Center, the Taichung Tun District Art Center, and the Seaport Art Center, before the long holidays of Children’s Day. It is hoped that the "Art Train" can spread even more seeds of joy and art to our kids.
The Cultural Affairs Bureau of Taichung City Government invited all the performance teams to attend the press conference held at Taichung Tun District Art Center on March 7. Stella Yeh, Director-general of Cultural Affairs Bureau, stressed that this year's Children's Arts Festival will allow our kids not only to enjoy the shows but also to personally experience the different aspects of the performing arts, including the rehearsals, interactions with the actors, and hands-on practices. This special gift will be delivered by the Children's Art Train now or the Children's Art Grand View Garden from April 4 to 7.
At the press conference, each performance team sent its key actors on stage to play a short drama together for the kid students from the Fu-er-deng Kindergarten(富兒登幼兒園) in Taiping District. Director-general Stella Yeh also made a wish together with those little kids for their Children's Day. She wished them to be happy every day, to be healthy every day, and to make progress every day. The press conference served to officially kick off the 2013Taichung Children's Arts Festival.
In the Festival this year, not only will our children watch the classic performances made by teams like the Little Frog Theatre, the Open Theater Group, the StageNet Theatre, the Stone Theatre, the Modern Arts Dance Theater, and the Only Me Children's Theatre but they will be also given some precious gifts in every performance. For example, "Aguilar" of the Open Theater Group will give our kids a story of friendship; the StageNet Theatre will use "marbles" to help our kids to recall fond memories and to make wishes; the Little Frog Theatre will teach our kids to develop good health habits; the Stone Theatre will tell our kids how important it is to protect our environment; the Modern Arts Dance Theater will use the clothes to help children discover self-confidence. All the carefully designed performances are meant to explore the imagination power of our kids.

Special programs will be launched in the Children's Arts Festival to guide our kids to discover the wonder of art!
To expose our kids to the art as much as possible, each performance team will arrange some special programs before and after its own show. For example, the Stone Theatre and the Open Theater Group will invite kids to take a look at their rehearsals; the StageNet Theatre will allow our kids to take part in the ceremony of using the “marbles” to make wishes; the Little Frog Theatre will set up the “visual device” stage and allow the audience to have a close contact; and the Modern Arts Dance Theater will dance with kids. It is hoped that such hands-on experiences will expose our kids to the wonder of the art.
Of course, we know some of you may not be able to participate in the activities of the “Art Train”. Do not worry! All the above-mentioned performance teams and other outstanding performing groups will come over to the outdoor stage of "Children’s Art Grand View Garden" at the Wenxin Forest Park to act for four days between April 4 and 7. Each team will still offer its special programs at the site of Grand View Garden for your hands-on artistic experiences. It is always our aim to immerse our kids in the art Feast!
To encourage our citizens to actively participate in the arts-related activities, the Taichung Children's Art Train will give out free tickets for the night show at 18:30 at the venue. As the seating is limited, one person will be given only one ticket until the stock runs out. For the shows at the Children’s Art Grand View Garden, parents are welcome to take their kid(s) to enjoy together the performances, hands-on experiences, and the interactions with the performers. Admission is free. For more details about the joyful Children's Day, please visit the official website of the 2013 Taichung Children's Arts Festival.