Minister of Culture Li Yuan visits Britain and France to promote cultural cooperation and urban greening concepts between Taiwan and Europe

(Central News Agency reporter Zhao Jingyu, London, 7th) Culture Minister Li Yuan embarked on a European visit. The first stop was in the United Kingdom to visit cultural venues such as the Barbican Art Center, and then went to France to participate in the 30th Taiwan-France Cultural Award Jury and the 29th Award Ceremony. This is also the first time that a Taiwanese culture minister has visited the UK.

Li Yuan expressed his hope that in his role as Minister of Culture, he would personally recommend Taiwan's diverse cultural content and various cultural policies to Britain, France and other European countries, and invite relevant heavyweights to come to Taiwan to actually participate in co-creation, exchanges and cooperation, and establish a stronger cultural alliance between Taiwan, Britain, Taiwan, France and Taiwan and Europe.

Li Yuan visited the famous British Barbican Center (Barbican Center) and the Young V&A Children's Museum of the Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A) on the 6th to learn about the development of science and technology and the construction of the National Children's Future Museum.

Among them, the Barbican Art Center was established in 1982 and is London's most important multi-functional art space. In addition to theaters, galleries, concert halls and cinemas, it also has a large greenhouse with more than 1,500 species of plants and trees, a library, conference facilities, public and community spaces, restaurants and a lakeside oasis. Patrick Moran, Director of Business Strategy and Partnerships at the Barbican Art Center, said that here everyone can get close to and participate in art.

Li Yuan's eyes lit up with excitement when he saw that the Barbican Art Center, in addition to its role as an art venue, also has a green space for people to stop and stop after the show. He said that President Lai Ching-te proposed treating national green shade as national resilience infrastructure and promoting the "Urban Forest" project. The Executive Yuan has established the "National Urban Forest Promotion Committee" and the Ministry of Culture is striving to join the "Climate Adaptation Green Shade Doubling Plan" proposed by the Ministry of Environment, which is expected to be officially launched next year.

After the visit, Li Yuan told the media that with the participation of the Ministry of Culture, the "urban forest" will have a story. In the future, the Ministry of Culture hopes to actively participate in ecological planning in all corners of Taiwan, including existing museums, cultural facilities, communities, and top 100 cultural bases.

Li Yuan said that in the Barbican Art Center, he saw an ideal space that is very close to urban residential areas and culture. This is indeed the practice of cultural equality. In fact, Taiwan's current urban planning is relatively lacking, but in the future urban planning can be towards equal distribution of cultural facilities, so that everyone lives not far from cultural life. "Although these are ideal, the Ministry of Culture will continue to work hard."

Accompanied by Alex Newson, chief curator of the Children's Museum, Li Yuan also visited the Young V&A Children's Museum under the Victoria and Albert Museum to draw experience and inspiration for the National Children's Future Museum. Newsom said that the V&A Children's Museum was founded in 1872 and was renovated in 2023. In order to be closer to the perspective of children, the team invited 22,000 children, teenagers, teachers and other people from various fields to participate in the construction.

The V&A Children's Museum is brightly lit, and its classic collections are displayed from a child's perspective, focusing on handicrafts and creativity. Li Yuan said that he does not like dogmatic education. This kind of museum with children as the main body allows children to think about "the relationship between myself and social groups" in addition to visiting. "In the future, I hope to bring this concept into the National Children's Future Museum, implement children's participatory design, and make the Future Museum a support for children's growth."

The Ministry of Culture stated that considering that the Ministry of Culture currently has a number of major cultural facilities under construction and preparation, including the National Children's Museum of the Future, the National Railway Museum, the National Comic Museum, and the National Taiwan Museum of History Phase II, it looks forward to bringing the experience back to Taiwan for reference through inspection visits. (Editor: Li Hengshan) 1150907