Reasons for establishment

The Fine Arts combine various fields such as visuals, music, and kinetics in order to stimulate audiences' feelings and imaginations via performances, and generate instruction through recreation with literature. In European and American integrated universities, subjects related to Drama often play a significant role in general education. In our nation, the integrated universities which have established departments related to theater arts are: Department of Drama in National Taiwan University of Arts, Department of Drama and Department of Theatre Design and Technology in National Taipei University of The Arts, Department of Drama and Theatre in National Taiwan University, Department of Theatre Arts and Department of Chinese Drama in Chinese Culture University, and Movie and Drama Division of Department of Arts in Fu Hsing Kang College - a total of five schools and seven departments. Our school's Department of Theatre Arts expects to cooperate internally with the Department of Music and the Institute of Arts Management to promote the development of humanities and arts in Southern Taiwan and to educate students via the fine arts so as to create a broad research scope. Through the establishment of expert education in our department, we hope to cultivate theatre professionals who will motivate people in Southern Taiwan to appreciate theory, dramatic texts and theater arts. We also look forward to promoting theater arts rooted in Southern Taiwan so as to continue improving the cultural level of local theaters and to achieve the goal of being ¡§a new source of Taiwan theater knowledge and a new exporter of theater professionals¡¨. Towards these goals, we officially began to enroll students from 2003.

 

Objectives

Our teaching aims to establish a sound professional and liberal education. The focus of the freshman year curriculum is on both basic dramatic arts and general education. In this first year, we expect to establish our students' solid basic knowledge and begin to develop their potential. Beginning in the second year, our students' expertise in the dramatic arts will be enhanced gradually. Three professional fields will be formed: performance and directing, theory, and design. These fields will complement one another through practice and production. Additionally, we will instill students with a wide knowledge of the various aspects of the dramatic arts: from literature to aesthetics, from traditional to modern, and from theory, playwrighting to stage performance. In the future, we will make efforts to integrate humanities and arts.

 

Teaching Concepts

The developmental directions of our teaching are as follows:

  1. Deem academic studies as the basis and practice as the bridge: Our school is a research-orientated university. Thus, we place a high priority on academic studies in order to respond to our school's development directions. We also recognize that academic studies are an essential foundation in the improvement of quality in the humanities and arts. Therefore, based on a teaching structure different from other departments in the nation, our department especially emphasizes our students' theoretical knowledge. Meanwhile, we construct a solid bridge between theory and practice so as to establish a space where students can develop their basic knowledge and make use of their creativity freely.
  2. Cultivate students' global views: Daily life is becoming increasingly global; thus, ensuring that humanities and arts¡Xkey indicators of the quality of life¡X achieve national standards most certainly a central concern in the future development of the country. Therefore, our teaching not only requires students to understand traditional culture and arts but also strengthens their understanding and perception of current international academic studies in arts, culture, and life values.
  3. Cultivate theater arts teachers: Since 2001, the Grade 1-9 Curriculum of Elementary and Junior High Schools has been implemented nationally in Taiwan . The Arts and Humanities curriculum includes courses in the performing arts. Currently, schools in the North with departments related to arts are experiencing a shortage of teachers. This problem is even more severe in Central and Southern Taiwan . Our department will integrate with Teacher Education courses in our school and cooperate with the Kaohsiung Municipal Government in order to enable the Grade 1-9 Curriculum Arts and Humanities education to achieve the greatest possible success in a short period of time via Teacher Cultivation courses.
  4.   Enhance academic exchange: Apart from practical performances, we will hold activities such as workshops and conferences to lift research standards and increase communication among specialists at home and abroad.

 

Expectations and Blueprint

In the future, apart from respecting traditional inheritances and students' multiple choices, we anticipate creating brand-new milestone for students. The focuses are:

  1. Establish theoretical knowledge as the foundation of research and practice: We give our students a thorough background in Western and Eastern theater arts, provide them with multiple learning contexts, and establish their expertise based on theory.
  2. Connect and integrate arts and management: In the future, we will offer several management courses. Students will increase their knowledge of theater arts and broaden their expertise by means of the integration of management skills.
  3. Improve domestic theatre culture as a mission: Taiwanese theatres are striding forward in multiple and prosperous ways. We aim to cultivate versatile specialists who can integrate theory and practice into localized theaters.
  4.   Deem integration of arts and humanities as an ultimate goal: Based on theories, we expect to integrate the ethos of arts and humanities into practices.