Ringing the Changes for Taiwanese Arts-Reverberations Art -Spaces Network

In February 2008, Cloud Gate Dance Theatre's rehearsal studio in Bali, Taipei County, was ravaged by a fire thought to have been caused by faulty, aged electrical wiring, destroying design documents, props, and costumes. This disaster was a huge blow to Taiwan's arts com-mun-ity. Although their rehearsal space was on a par size-wise with actual theaters, the building itself was an illegal structure, and this whole incident brought into clearer relief the long-time issue of a lack of suitable spaces and government funding for the arts in Taiwan.

Not long after the fire, both the central and local governments pitched in to help Cloud Gate find a new home. After much searching, the troupe settled on the Dan-shui Art Education Center, a site which once housed the Central Broadcasting System, rescuing them from a life as the "wandering minstrels" of Taiwanese arts and giving them a new home of their own.

Xinbeitou Park 71 in Taipei was once the site of an elementary school, but now the school building has been repurposed as a rehearsal space for six different arts groups. The photo below (facing page) shows members of Taipei Dance Circle rehearsing.

This incident spurred the Taipei City Department of Cultural Affairs to begin mulling over the issue of insufficient rehearsal and studio spaces which was being faced by many other artistic groups, leading to the initiation of a plan to provide broader help to such organizations.

As early as 2006 the DCA had proposed the idea of the "Reverberations Art Spaces Network," marshalling the resources of various city government departments to draw up a list of city-owned premises that were lying idle. The hope was to provide these spaces for use by arts groups, helping relieve them of the burden of high rents, which could potentially have driven them to other parts of Taiwan, or even to mainland China.

After going over the list, in 2008 the DCA drafted a list of 12 different spaces that could be used as offices for music, dance, or theatrical troupes, as studios, or as costume and prop storage areas. These spaces ranged from 100 to 2000 square meters in size, and included both multistory buildings and large, open areas. The location, floor area, and age of each space, along with recent photographs and suggested uses, were listed and uploaded to Reverberations' online platform for groups and troupes to look through.

With many of these spaces having been left unused for years, problems like leaking roofs and cracked floors were far from uncommon, and so if any interested group -needed to, they could apply for funding from the DCA to carry out any necessary repairs, with subsidies of up to 60% available. The only financial concerns any group taking up residence would need to worry about would be utilities, management fees, and rates, meaning monthly expenses would be a meager NT$2000-3000, and they would have a contract to use the site for up to three years.

Converting once-idle spaces into new homes for artistic groups has also proven to be a way to inject cultural life into the lanes and alleys of the city. This photo shows an old dormitory on Zhonghua Rd. Sec. 2 that has been renovated as part of the Taipei City Department of Cultural Affairs' Reverberations Art Spaces Network.

Founder and artistic director of Taipei Dance Circle Liou Shaw-lu says that it can be hard for outsiders to imagine the difficulties involved in being in the performing arts, particularly in recent years with skyrocketing real-estate prices and rents in the Taipei area. According to his estimates, Taipei Dance Circle have had to move home at least 10 times in the past 27 years, and the constantly rising rents have driven the troupe from Taipei City out into more remote parts of New Taipei City. They'd even considered just packing up and calling it a day. Luckily, the Reverberations project has helped them find a place in the Xin-bei-tou Park 71 area, and Liou has abandoned any idea of closing the troupe down.

Xin-bei-tou Park 71 was once home to Yi-fang Elementary School, a small school that eventually outgrew the site and moved elsewhere. The square, pillar-less old classrooms, and a convenient location near Xin-bei-tou MRT station, made it perfect for smaller dance troupes in need of a little space, and so the site was divided up into 12 dance studios and renamed Xin-bei-tou Park 71, finally going into operation in January 2011.

Sun Chuo-tai, artistic director of the 2006-established 8213 Physical Dance Theater, says that when the DCA first put forward the idea of the Reverberations Art Spaces Network, his immediate reaction was that it probably wouldn't work. His opinion, one tinged with resignation, was that the government was "trying to raise a good horse without giving it any grass to eat"-both in terms of funding and available spaces, Taiwan has historically been a long way behind much of the rest of the world. He never imagined that the authorities would seemingly hear his pleas and offer his troupe a place they could use in the long term-it was like a dream come true.

"Once I didn't have to worry about having a place to set up shop, I could finally fully focus on choreography," says Sun, who frequently invites foreign dancers to rehearse and exchange ideas. He is looking forward to Xin-bei-tou Park 71 becoming a fully-fledged artists' commune, with various groups and troupes taking up residence. So far, it's home to a total of six dance troupes.

As well as being homes for creativity, these spaces also give back to society by bringing arts and culture into their local communities. For example, dance groups taking up residence have begun working with the nearby Fu-hsing High School and the School of Dance at Taipei National University of the Arts to give young people the chance to experience dance for themselves, as well as holding regular performances for the community.

Another such once-idle space sits on the first two floors of No. 50, Lane 150, Xing-yun Street in -Neihu. A large building with a distinctive arched facade, it is the most upscale of the Reverberations locations.

But this hillside spot is not easy to get to, making otherwise interested groups hesitant. For three years the DCA had been looking for residents, with no success, until the Neihu MRT line opened, at which time they were finally able to get musical and theatrical groups to take up residence. To ensure the rehearsals of these groups don't disturb others in the building, the DCA even spent almost NT$1 million to help install soundproofing.

One of the groups already in residence, Taipei Neo Wave Ensemble, was established in 2004 and is largely made up of college music majors. Clad in form-fitting mini-qipao, these young women perform their own vibrant interpretations of traditional Chinese music.

Artistic director for the group Song Jin-long explains that as the ensemble is made up of two bands, they need a fairly large amount of rehearsal space, and finding a suitable and affordable spot in an expensive city like Taipei was like trying to find hen's teeth. Their location now, though, is better than they could have imagined.

Taipei Neo Wave Ensemble chose to take up residence on the first floor, which covers about 60 square meters. The Tai-chung-born-and-raised 13th Month Theater has adopted the floor above, a 90-square-meter area. The two groups couldn't be more different, but after much discussion and interior design planning, they were ultimately able to create a shared rehearsal space under the second-floor archway, and once the dividers are opened, the space transforms into a glorious round stage.

Over the four years since its inception, it is estimated that the Reverberations Art Spaces Network has spent over NT$10 million on renovations and found 16 locations for 58 different groups. In the future, the DCA plans to continue working with other city government departments to identify more idle spaces that can be used to help even more artistic and cultural groups.

These beacons of hope for the arts and culture have also injected new cultural life into their communities, bringing the lanes and alleys alive with the sounds of music and dance.