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Inaugural participants named for ISPA's Taiwan Fellowship Program

  • Date:2022-09-03

Taiwanese independent project manager Hsu Tzu-yin (許慈茵) and co-founder and creative producer of the Small Island Big Song (小島大歌) project BaoBao Chen (陳玟臻) have been selected to participate in the "2023-2025 Taiwan Fellowship Program" of the International Society for the Performing Arts (ISPA).

Hsu and Chen will take part in the ISPA's annual meeting, which will be held in New York, US, for three consecutive years starting from 2023. Aside from building deep international social networks, they will also assist Taiwanese performing artists and groups in gaining more opportunities for international collaborations and exchanges.

According to the jury of ISPA, Hsu has a definite plan and clear goal for participating in the program. In addition to actively engaging with the program participants from all over the world to spark inspiration, she also hopes that she will be able to build up a social network and propose a concrete plan for international collaborations. As for the other participant, Chen's experience of organizing the Small Island Big Song project that connects Taiwanese and Austronesian indigenous culture and her novel concept of environmental protection allowed her to join the program. She will share her personal experience at ISPA’s annual meeting.

The members of the jury include ISPA Chief Executive Officer David Baile, member of ISPA's board of directors Cindy Hwang (黃思緯), Taiwanese independent performing arts producer Wang Hsu-ping (王序平), who was selected for the ISPA Global Fellowship Program, and Chang Hui-chun (張惠君), the director of the Taipei Cultural Center (TCC) in New York.

In a collaboration between the Taipei Cultural Center in New York and ISPA, the program received applications from 20 performing arts administrators from Taiwan. The age of applicants ranges from 30 to 45 years old, and they all have worked in the field of performing arts for five to fifteen years.

ISPA is a global network of more than 500 leaders in the performing arts with representation from more than 185 cities and all regions of the globe. ISPA members include facilities, performing arts organizations, artist managers, festivals, funders, consultants and other professionals working in the performing arts. Taiwan is the 12th participating country after Singapore, the United States, Canada, the UK, Australia, the Netherlands, Denmark, and others.