Vice-Director of Paper Windmill Theatre Announces Candidacy for Pingtung County Council

Zhuang Qiong-ru, a veteran Taiwanese theater worker and deputy director of the Paper Windmill Theatre, recently shocked the performing arts community by announcing that she will temporarily step away from the theater stage she has cultivated for many years to officially run for a seat on the Pingtung County Council. This decision is not only a major turning point in her personal career, but also touches a nerve in Taiwan's performing arts sector, which has long struggled with resource scarcity and political wrangling. Zhuang publicly stated that the primary catalyst for her decision to run is her heartache over domestic cultural budgets repeatedly facing drastic cuts and freezes. She hopes to speak up for her hometown of Pingtung through frontline political participation and to secure more stable survival spaces and policy support for Taiwan's arts and cultural development.

Zhuang possesses extensive credentials in Taiwan's arts and cultural sector, having long accompanied the Paper Windmill Theatre across countless townships to promote large-scale public welfare performances such as "Plays for Taiwan's Children." For many years, the Paper Windmill Theatre has upheld the philosophy of artistic equality, venturing deep into every rural and remote corner of Taiwan to bring sophisticated performing arts to children with relatively scarce resources. However, these seemingly warm and socially meaningful cultural projects often rely heavily on massive human and material resources as well as stable funding. In recent years, with changing domestic and international political and economic conditions, cultural budgets in government budgeting and review at all levels have frequently become sacrifices to political maneuvering or fiscal tightening, facing the crisis of being cut or frozen. This has left arts workers who have long toiled on the front lines feeling disheartened and anxious.

The cutting and freezing of cultural budgets inflicts a comprehensive and profound impact on Taiwan's local arts and cultural ecosystem. For a long time, Taiwan's performing arts have been heavily concentrated in metropolitan areas such as Taipei and New Taipei City, and the issue of uneven resource distribution has consistently been a pain point for local cultural development. Non-metropolitan counties and cities like Pingtung, although actively revitalizing local culture through local revitalization and large-scale events in recent years, still rely heavily on funding injections from the central and local governments for basic arts promotion, venue operations, and the survival of troupes. When budgets are drastically slashed, the immediate casualties are the livelihoods of grassroots theater workers and the ability of arts troupes to continue promoting long-term, in-depth local cultivation projects, directly threatening the foundation of Taiwan's cultural diversity.

Zhuang's transition from the core role of theater administration and arts promotion to running for local public office carries high symbolic meaning and substantial influence. This is not only a cry of anger and a piece of advice directed at the system by a cultural figure, but also an attempt to break the outdated myth that "politics belongs to politics and art belongs to art." In Taiwan's democratization process, the participation of arts and cultural figures in politics is not uncommon, but most have focused on the formulation of cultural policies at the central government level. Zhuang's choice to return to her hometown of Pingtung to run for county councilor directly brings cultural vision down to the livelihood and budget review levels of local grassroots politics, attempting to ensure from the very roots of local autonomy that cultural construction and budgets will no longer be easily overlooked or sacrificed, allowing cultural policies to truly take root and respond to the needs of local residents.

This election holds indicator significance for both Pingtung's local political ecosystem and the domestic arts community. On one hand, Pingtung voters will use their ballots to test whether a female worker with no traditional factional background and a long-term dedication to the performing arts can break through the barriers of local politics. On the other hand, the nationwide arts community is also watching to see whether this candidacy can raise public awareness of cultural budget issues and prompt political parties to provide more substantial guarantees for arts and culture during resource allocation. Zhuang's transformation is not only her own courageous challenge, but also provides a potential solution and path for reflection regarding Taiwan's current cultural dilemma.

(Source: Central News Agency)