Yunlin County's 3rd Street Performer Selection Kicks Off on the 27th

(Taiwan Business News) Yunlin County's 3rd Street Performer Selection will kick off lively at 10 a.m. on April 27 at the Douliu Baseball Stadium. As of the April 18 registration deadline, a total of 290 groups and nearly 1,000 performing artists had signed up across 3 categories including performing arts, visual arts and creative crafts. Those who pass the selection can obtain a "Yunlin County Street Performer Certificate" issued by the county government and apply free of charge to perform at 35 public spaces in Yunlin County. A promotional press conference was held on the 23rd at the corridor of the Yunlin County Cultural Affairs Department. Liu Chuan-chih, director of the Cultural Affairs Department, said that this year's street performer registration in Yunlin County surged to a record high, and that for the first time the selection was co-organized with Yunlin Second Prison and the Changhua Juvenile Reformatory to select performers among inmates, with a panel of judges invited into the prisons to score them.

Liu Chuan-chih pointed out that Yunlin County is committed to promoting street performer culture. Since 99 (the year 99 of the Republic of China era, i.e. 2010), street performer selection activities have been held, and 388 groups have been selected so far, including many people with physical and mental disabilities and marginalized members of society. At present, 35 performance spaces are set up throughout the county, and the Yunlin County Cultural Affairs Department will continue to seek out and add performance venues. Anyone who obtains a Yunlin street performer certificate can apply to the venue management unit to perform, and the public is also asked to give more encouragement and support when enjoying the performances, so that these masters with extraordinary skills can step out from the streets into the open air and entertain the public.

At the press conference, Lin Wei-yu, who was honored as one of Taiwan's Top Ten Street Performers, and the "senior" street performers from the first and second Yunlin County street performer selections were specially invited to take the stage and share their experiences, including the Broken-Wing Angel Band, a belly dance troupe, giant puppets, balloon modeling and portrait sketching, kicking off the selection event.