Every semester, the Arts Center organizes the fascinating NYCU Arts Center Programs that mainly include activities related to visual and performing arts. In terms of program planning, a Program Selection Committee is established for screening and selection to ensure the quality of the programs. Outstanding artists and groups from home and abroad are invited to the university for exhibitions, performances, or keynote speeches. Participants are mainly teachers and students at the university, alumni, and the community.
(1) Performing arts:
Performing arts activities include those related to music, drama, dance, and workshops. Activities are mainly performed in the Auditorium of the Student Activity Center on the Chiao Tung Campus and the public space on campus.
To increase students’ interest in art appreciation, artists are also invited to give professional guidance, commentary, or seminar. Some events require tickets to foster the concept of beneficiary pay. Given that the events are carefully selected every year, obtaining even one single ticket is often difficult.
(2) Visual arts:
Visual arts activities include those related to graphic media, sculpture, photography, architecture, cross-domain and new media art, installation, art, and other multielement visual art. Such activities are mainly held in the Gallery on Floor B1 of the Hao-Ran Library on the Chiao Tung Campus and the Art Space in the front hallway of the Zhi Xing Building on the Yang Ming Campus. The Gallery of the Chiao Tung Campus also has Arts Curio Cabinets, which combine exhibitions and cultural and creative product resources to practice the design and application of various life aesthetics and arts.
Most of the exhibitions are subject-oriented and are closely related to new contemporary topics. Special exhibitions of various themes are planned and promoted, and outstanding domestic and foreign artists are invited to provide works for the exhibition. They are often accompanied by various activities, such as face-to-face tours by creators, keynote speeches, hands-on workshops, making exhibition worksheets, and filming trailers for videos, to guide students to contemplate various topics through art appreciation.
To stimulate students’ creative potential and promote sharing of learning achievements, the Gallery reserves one exhibition slot for teachers and students of the Institute of Applied Arts every semester and one exhibition slot for students of the Institute of Architecture every academic year to increase their interest in participating in art activities. Students’ creative representations that follow new trends often attract extensive media reports. The art club joint exhibition is organized by the six arts clubs of the university to present annual achievements. It assists the art festival team to organize arts and cultural activities planned by students and guides interested students to participate in the whole process, from planning and brainstorming to actual implementation, to enhance students’ experience and ability of practice and teamwork.
Artists’ Residency Program
The Arts Center actively promotes the Artists’ Residency Program. This program invites elite artists to the university to open workshops or interactive teaching studios or produce works of art and hold exhibitions on campus. In this manner, teachers and students are provided with the opportunity to directly communicate with and learn from art masters.
Jacaranda Literature and Photography Award
The Jacaranda Literature and Photography Award is a university-level award, which calls for submissions from the end of December to February of the following year. All students in the university can submit their work. The literature award includes three categories: modern poetry, essays, and novels. The photography award has no restriction on themes. Award-winning works will be displayed in the Art Space in May each year and made into portfolios.
Arts lectures
Arts lectures can be classified into classic general education lectures and Hao-Ran lectures. The former is a general education course hosted by the General Education Committee of our university, and in each class, scholars and experts from different fields are invited to come to our university to share new professional knowledge that is in line with the trend of the times. In coordination with performance activities, the Center invites artists in relevant fields to guide through or talk about creative aesthetics and artwork appreciation. For Hao-Ran lectures, since 1999, winners of the National Award for Arts, which is the most prestigious literary and art award in Taiwan, are invited every one or two years to give lectures in the university and share how they entered the art world and their life experience in artistic creation. Thus far, the lectures have been held for more than 20 years and have attracted great attention. Since 2007, Hao-Ran lectures have consolidated classic lectures on general education to benefit more students.
Walk into Studio makes art education flourish everywhere
Only by appreciating arts can a person stimulate his imagination. The Center designs dynamic teaching and organizes Walk into Studio and Cultural Tours to extend learning outside the classroom to reinforce learning and expand the scope of humanities concerns and students’ horizons through observation, experiment, and practical activities. By connecting the university, the National Theater and Concert Hall, and the community transformation resources, students can walk into art and thus share arts and culture among the entire population.
ART Course
The Chinese name is a transliteration instead of a free translation of the ART Course, which indicates that the appreciation and interpretation of art can be comprehended and defined from multiple perspectives. The ART Course launched by the Center aims to bring a more diversified art experience to teachers and students of our university and the community through various courses on different topics.
In addition to the glamorous performers on stage, the considerate service of the venue staff is indispensable for every wonderful performance. To cultivate talents on the stage and behind the scenes of performing arts and improve the performance level of the theater, the Center has formulated theatre technology training, front stage and backstage/theatre assistant recruitment course, and theatre technology and service course, which will be taught by professional teams and teachers step by step. After completing the training and undergoing an assessment, trainees will become assistants in the Yang Ming Chiao Tung University Auditorium.
Arts Appreciation Education – Arts Passport, a compulsory zero-credit course
To motivate students to participate in art and literature activities and deepen their understanding of art, since the 1995 academic year, all freshmen entering the university on Chiao Tung Campus must take the Arts Appreciation Education – Arts Passport course in their first year (first and second semesters). Every semester, students visit the Arts Center of the university (located in the Gallery on Floor B1 of the Hao-Ran Library on the Chiao Tung Campus) or exhibitions held by various art museums and cultural institutions at home and abroad. They also participate in at least one performance art activity or arts lecture held by the Arts Center of the university (located in the Auditorium on Floor 2 of the Student Activity Center on the Chiao Tung campus) or cultural institutions at home and abroad. Although it is a compulsory zero-credit course, it helps guide students through the world of art.