Taipei, Dec. 14 (CNA) The local cultural community on Wednesday unveiled some of the major issues such as the budget and cultural diplomacy that it plans to raise in a question-and-answer session with the three presidential candidates Thursday. The questions will touch on 12 topics, including cultural and economic development, the cultural and creative industry and improvement of native language teaching, said the preparatory office for the Foundation of the Inaugural Year for Culture. The list of questions has been submitted to the candidates -- incumbent President Ma Ying-jeou of the ruling Kuomintang, Tsai Ing-wen of the opposition Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and James Soong of the People First Party (PFP). Other topics to be raised will include the lack of professional venues for culture and the arts, the promotion of arts and cultural education, and public television service. The candidates will take questions from several artists and other people from the community, including directors, a poet, independent curators and university faculty members, in three separate one-hour sessions at Shih Hsin University in Taipei. The 12 questions were compiled from discussions in the community and online platforms, according to the non-governmental organization. The event, the first of its kind in Taiwan, will give the candidates the opportunity to elaborate on their cultural policies and communicate with the cultural community directly. The office was launched in late November after "Dreamers," a musical that was part of the Republic of China's centenary celebrations, sparked a huge controversy over its NT$200 million (US$6,599,400) budget, which the cultural community said was exorbitant. More than 1,000 arts and cultural workers signed a letter later to support the foundation, saying the current cultural policies are empty and identifying nine areas in which they want to see improvement. (By Sabine Cheng and Kendra Lin)
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