Come to the Children's Arts Festival to appreciate theaters and listen to music! Taichung City Cultural Affairs Bureau organized the 2019 Taichung Children's Arts Festival inspired by the theme of Fantasy Fairy Tale and Adventures, inviting numerous local groups in Taichung to stage 27 exciting performances and activities in the city's mountain, coastal, central and urban areas from March 30 to May 18. National Taiwan Symphony Orchestra will also conduct free community classical chamber music concerts. According to Deputy Mayor Linghu, the city hall has hosted the Children's Arts Festival for 16 consecutive years since 2004, and it is hoped that the diverse array of activities will allow the seeds of arts to blossom. Teachers and children are invited to take this opportunity to cultivate interests in arts and celebrate the Children's Day.

Taichung City Cultural Affairs Bureau convened the 2019 Taichung Children's Arts Festival kick-off press conference today (27th), featuring opening performance by numerous renowned children's theaters including Atayal Taiwan First Nation M-yu Dancers, Stone Theatre, Taichung Sheng-Wu-Chou Puppet Troupe, StageNet Theatre, Mad Theater, Little Frog Theatre, and Open Theater Group. Deputy Mayor Linghu and Cultural Affairs Bureau Director-General Ta-chun Chang all turned out for the function.

Deputy Mayor Linghu commented that children are not only a unique gem in the eyes of their parents and teachers but also represent the future of the country. The city hall has hosted the Children's Arts Festival for 16 consecutive years since 2004; inspired by the philosophy of “Nurturing the Seeds of Arts and Watching Them Blossom”, outstanding local performing groups are invited to stage meaningful, interesting performances in cultural venues across the city's mountain, coastal, central and urban areas. It is hoped that teachers and children will take this opportunity to appreciate the stunning performances, thereby sowing the seeds of art that will turn into blooming flowers in the future.

Deputy Mayor Linghu elaborated that this year's Taichung Children's Arts Festival is inspired by the theme of Fantasy Fairy Tales and Adventures. Besides inviting 7 local performing troupes from Taichung including Open Theater Group, Little Frog Theatre, Stone Theatre, StageNet Theatre, Mad Theater, Taichung Sheng-Wu-Chou Puppet Troupe, and Atayal Taiwan First Nation M-yu Dancers, the program also collaborated with National Taiwan Symphony Orchestra's “Community Arts Development Program” to arrange 6 classical chamber music concerts including brass quintet, woodwind trio, and string quartet for children in Taichung as a Children's Day gift.

Cultural Affairs Bureau explained that the Children's Arts Festival is a feast of arts prepared especially for children by the Taichung city hall by upholding the spirit of sowing the seeds of art and watching them blossom. Inspired by the theme of Fantasy Fairy Tales and Adventures, the activities conducted throughout the city include performances adapted from Taiwanese legends and classic international creations.

This year's Children's Arts Festival combines children's theater with concerts, featuring outstanding performing talents. For the first time, tickets for the performances are sold at performing venues such as the Harbor Art Center, Huludun Cultural Center, and Taichung Central Area Art and Culture Center. Seven ticketed performances will be staged by local performing troupes from Taichung including Open Theater Group, Little Frog Theatre, Stone Theatre, StageNet Theatre, Mad Theater, Taichung Sheng-Wu-Chou Puppet Troupe, and Atayal Taiwan First Nation M-yu Dancers. On the other hand, 14 community performances will be presented by the identical 7 troupes in elementary schools and district office assembly halls.

In particular, ticketed performances will be staged by popular children's theaters such as Open Theater Group and Little Frog Theatre in the auditorium. In order to encourage more people to purchase tickets and to give back to the citizens of Taichung, ticket packages offering 20% discount for any 3 shows are available, and free admission applies to all community performances.

Furthermore, this year's Children's Arts Festival has joined forces with National Taiwan Symphony Orchestra's 2019 NTSO Community Arts Development Program to arrange 6 classical chamber music concerts including brass quintet, woodwind trio, and string quartet. The concerts are complemented by narrations to explain the meaning of the musical composition, in turn sowing the seeds of classical music in the community.
Cultural Affairs Bureau remarked that classical chamber music concerts and community concerts offer free admission 30 minutes before starting. Tickets for various enthralling shows by various outstanding performing groups are currently on sale, please browse the Arts Ticket website.