Director's Speech

Indigenous Peoples Commission of Taipei Municipal Administration adapt Taipei Mayor Ma Ying-jeou’s administrative attitude for the white paper of aborigine policy, giving every effort to conserve and glorify the aboriginal arts. In 1998, we decided to use the foundations of the Peitou Hot Spring Park in Taipei and the former site of military police corps on the northern side of Chung-Shan Nord Road to build up the “Ketagalan Culture Center”. On November 3rd in 2002, the culture center was established officially in order to benefit citizens in Taipei, enhance the foreign visitors’ knowledge and appreciation of aboriginal arts, and stimulate the multicultural compatibilities and population prosperousness.

Ketagalan Culture Center is the significant center for the inheritance of aboriginal culture, language, history and arts. It has the responsibility of conservation, heritage and invention and takes the diversified and internationalized culture as their sustainable goal of management. Therefore, for the middle and long term operation, we have integrated actively the resources of operators of Taipei Peitou Spring, academic organizations, folk enterprises, etc. In addition, we fully understand the citizen’s need from subdivision of the district, elementary schools, colleges in Taipei and domestic visitors, and desire to create new subjects of the aboriginal guide for different visitors. We would plan the instruction of tour package in New Peitou, establish more Visitor Information Centers of Peitou, and promote the activities to experience the aboriginal diversified cultures. Besides, our center commands the movements of the government’s policies which benefit us to program and integrate the information of aboriginal culture creativity industry. We expect to launch the aboriginal culture creativity industry into the tourist market, conduct the aboriginal art activities to the spring commercial areas and open up the diversifying developments of the tourism in Peitou, and then combine the reviviscence of regional tourist industries. Finally make a new landmark of Peitou tourist area.

Since the center has opened, the number of visitors and the use frequency of the space have increased evidently and we obtained visitors’ approval. The culture center will continue to expand the aboriginal art performing, cultural activities, trainings, music and dance on the international stage in accordance with different groups’ needs, and develop the multi-value of tourism in New Beitou. Push Taipei to become a world-class city of multicultural arts.

We expect all walks of life continue to support us and create an aboriginal cultural healthy city together.