Former French Minister of Culture Jack Lang visited TNUA on October 26, during which he shared his views on art and culture with TNUA President Prof. Ju, Tzong-Ching.
Prof. Ju expressed welcome to Mr. Lang – as well as to his wife and Mr. Christophe Gigaudaut, head of the culture, education and science section at the French Office in Taipei, both of whom accompanied the former minister to the TNUA trip.
The TNUA president noted that Mr. Lang has made many contributions to the development art and culture, as well as education, and is an influential and respected figure in the international community.
Mr. Lang lauded Prof. Ju for his leadership that, together with the teamwork from the staff and students, has turned TNUA into an exceptional university.
He noted that TNUA is unique in embracing a cross-disciplinary learning that covers six different disciplines of art, while most other arts universities in Europe only specialize in one or a few of the disciplines. He said this gives TNUA students more inspirations.
He said that during his stay in Taiwan, he witnessed its strong vitality and creativity.
He urged local artists to not only keep their passion for art alive, but also keep making suggestions to the government, spurring it to invest more resources into developing art and culture.
Mr. Lang stressed that culture is the core value of a country, and that culture is not a commodity.
Mr. Lang served as France's minister of culture twice – first from 1981 to 1986, and then from 1988 to 1992, and as minister of education, also twice – from 1992 to 1993, and from 2000 to 2002.