Taichung May Festival, May 12 & 13
LOHAS Festival:to Life the Arts and Culture of Central Taiwan
Words by Courtney Donovan Smith
Translated by Angel Pu
Readers of this magazine are no doubt familiar with the annual Compass Food and Music Festival held every year in May, a large and popular event bringing together a wide range of fantastic restaurants and cuisines together with the best bands in Central Taiwan. This year it is with great excitement that there will be, not one festival held at the Art Museum Parkway--but TWO festivals held concurrently and side-by-side, bringing a whole new dimension to the weekend's festival experience by forming a greater 'Taichung May Festival'.
The LOHAS Festival, while also featuring some food and music, is really about the Taichung and greater Central Taiwan cultural scene. The range and scope of this scene is wide, and the festival aims to reflect this diversity. From the traditional arts to the most modern, from the aboriginal to the newest of foreign residents, these influences are all parts of today's modern Taichung--and the basis of Central Taiwan's cultural future.
With an eye towards bringing the vibrancy of this scene to the public--for free of course--that the LOHAS Festival was conceived by the joint efforts of the iSee Taiwan Foundation and the Taiwan Tourism Bureau. But that's not all, the goal is to allow the public not just to see the art, but wherever possible to allow the public to interact with, experience, inspire, participate in and learn from the event. Even better, with a little luck, the artists themselves will find much to share and learn from each other--the kind of cross-pollination that leads to new ground broken.
The LOHAS Festival stage, unlike the music stage at the Compass event, will be largely dedicated to other kinds of performing arts and activities of a diverse nature--as entertainment and culture aren't limited purely to music. The booths at this side of the event are mostly dedicated to arts and crafts, many at which you can watch art being made and perhaps even participate in. Plus, you just might find that something special to enliven your home or inspire your life.
The event site, the Art Museum Parkway, has recently undergone a refurbishment, and has been joined with an extended green belt of parkways that stretches all the way up to the Science Museum and is now referred to collectively as the 'Calligraphy Greenway'. The city has been upgrading and refurbishing the entire stretch.
This LOHAS Festival is also the culmination and crowning event of a year-long cultural project highlighting Central Taiwan by the iSee Taiwan Foundation and the Taiwan Tourism Bureau. Over the past year, and ongoing this month, they have organized a wide range of creative events and activities including guided tours, culinary activities, tea and coffee workshops, aboriginal dance performances, craft workshops and even a performance of traditional Taiwanese tea-farm folk songs. Beyond the cultural theme, they have also highlighted the eco-friendly LOHAS, which stands for 'Life of Health and Sustainability', concept.
Foreign visitors, specifically any non-R.O.C. passport holders, to the event will have the opportunity to participate, for free, in a raffle featuring multiple tour packages to holiday spots around the country. Additionally, free gift items will be given away to foreign passport holders.
Artists, performers and craftsmen interested in participating are welcome to contact us at cds@taiwanfun.com (please include a clear email subject line). We are interested in a wide range of participants.
Official Website: www.lohaspot.com.tw
Official Facebook Page: www.facebook.com/LOHAS.Spot
Contact for artists and performers interested in participating: cds@taiwanfun.com
Taichung May Festival, including the LOHAS Festival and the COMPASS Food and Music Festival:
Dates: Saturday and Sunday, May 12 & 13, 2 p.m.-10 p.m.
Location: The Art Museum Parkway, between WuQuan West 3rd and 4th Streets, two blocks south of the National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts and WuQuan West Road, Section 1.
 
 
 
Left: Guided tour with local experts--Chen Dao-jie
Right: Guided tour with local experts--Gao Song-ming
 
Left: Royal Sun Young
Right: La Pioggia
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May 2012 
