dream community

http://www.dreamcommunity.org.tw/

Why am I in Taiwan?

I was invited to join a team of international and local artists to teach rural aboriginal communities in Taiwan to make giant puppets. (Also to play samba drums, dance samba, stilt walk and so on. . .) I will be here from August through the end of October, building towards a huge parade in Taipei on October 20th. Following I will be traveling through Asia return to the country December 11.

From what I understand they put on small and gigantic parades all year long in this model, but the Dream Parade in October is the biggest deal. In fact, this year is the first it will be in the city of Taipei. I was told they have been doing this particular parade for six years.

Dream Community is more then an arts foundation. Surrounding the area are multiple newly built tall apartment buildings (another one on the way), an office, apartments for artists, a puppet theater, a workshop / storage space, dance studio, commerical spaces like Maple Tree restaurant, Tree Cafe, Grain Mill bakery, a handmade furniture store (which is Gorden's office currently); and a parking lot. The whole area is open and inviting, which is the opposite to how I've experienced the rest of Shi-jr City (where we are), which feels closed in.

So, how I see this to work is the founder Gorden, a business man that has access to financial resources, invested in real estate which has also built this whole community that supports the arts organization, Dream Community. One of the people here said this is very nontraditional because the majority of arts programming is funded by the government. This is not. I think this model is fascinating. Because he can do whatever he wants really, as long as the money is there. Like invite international artists to work alongside local artists, provide free workshops all year long to aboriginal Taiwanese folks and put on large and small parades.