2015 Taiwan Cultural and Creative Industries Expo Opens

2015 Taiwan Cultural and Creative Industries Expo Opens, Procurement Value Estimated at 350 Million

The 2015 Taiwan Cultural and Creative Industries Expo officially opened on April 29. The number of participating exhibitors and booths both reached record highs, with more than 615 domestic and international companies exhibiting and more than 1,200 booths. The number of participating countries reached 18, and more than 1,000 domestic and international professional buyers were invited to procure. At the same time, there were 50 related events at the venue, and 154 outstanding cultural and creative shops were connected outside the venue during the exhibition period, turning the Taiwan Cultural and Creative Industries Expo into Asia's most professional cultural and creative trade fair and its most stylish city marketing event.

The opening ceremony of the 2015 Taiwan Cultural and Creative Industries Expo began with a Ti Drum performance, innovatively interpreting traditional art and symbolizing the ambition behind the 2015 Taiwan Cultural and Creative Industries Expo's transformation. In his remarks, Vice Premier of the Executive Yuan Simon Chang said that cultural creativity has in recent years become a prominent field for Taiwan's industrial upgrading and cultural value-added development. After its transformation, the 2015 Taiwan Cultural and Creative Industries Expo has even greater scale and ambition than before, and the effort and resources required are unprecedented. In addition to the Ministry of Culture promoting and implementing it through a cross-year plan, 10 county and city governments actively participated to showcase local cultural and creative vitality. Various ministries and councils were also integrated to assist with international investment promotion, "using the expo to bring international cultural and creative products into Taiwan and to showcase Taiwan's cultural strength to the world."

Minister of Culture Hung Meng-chi said in his opening remarks that the 2015 Taiwan Cultural and Creative Industries Expo differs from previous editions in using a single venue as the exhibition area. With the concept that "the city is the exhibition venue, and the exhibition venue is life," it drives the entire city to become a large-scale expo, showing the world that Taiwan is a showcase for observing quality Chinese lifestyle and also a practical field where culture and creativity, and the humanities and technology, are combined and enjoyed together.

Through a strategy of splitting exhibition venues and focusing on industries, the 2015 Taiwan Cultural and Creative Industries Expo planned Huashan as the crafts and image licensing exhibition area. Representative exhibitors include TZULAï, Franz Collection, and Artouch International, which have developed steadily in international markets; HIM International Music, which has expanded from pop music into image licensing agency work; and 7-Eleven Open-Chan, which has extended licensing applications from corporate mascot development. The Songshan exhibition area features JIA Inc. joining forces with Old Zhen Nan and Green in Hand to launch the first "Qi Jia" life gathering concept exhibition, as well as LIULI GONG FANG and Sunny Creative, among others. At the Flora Expo, the much-watched emerging Taiwanese fashion designers Chan Pu, Chen Shao-yen, Huang Wei, and Tien Ming-pin, along with the Shih Chien University fashion design brand PRAXES, will compete on the same stage, promising a spectacular showing.

In terms of international participation, Toyama Prefecture and Tokyo's Sumida City from Japan brought artisan crafts and cultural and creative revitalization. The fashion exhibition area featured trends redefined by the UK Pavilion and the Thailand Pavilion, demonstrating the cultural heritage and lifestyle values nurtured by different lands.

After the opening ceremony of the 2015 Taiwan Cultural and Creative Industries Expo, Vice Premier Chang and Minister Hung led attending guests and media friends on a tour of the Huashan 1914 Creative Park, visiting curator Lo Shen-chun's "Origin" themed exhibition conceived around rivers, the Asia Emerging Area gathering promising new talents from various countries, TZULAï's global premiere of the Tea Party 2 tea and wine experience, Artouch International's new product launch, the National Palace Museum's 90th anniversary and Southern Branch marketing presentation, and the Taiwan Craft Research and Development Institute's Yii brand, among others, getting a first look at the new face of the expo after its transformation.

The 2015 Taiwan Cultural and Creative Industries Expo runs for six days and ends on May 4. It is held simultaneously at three major exhibition areas: Huashan 1914 Creative Park, Songshan Cultural and Creative Park, and the Flora Expo Park's Competition Hall. Visitors are warmly welcome to attend.