Art Immersion and Sustainable Community — Foundation-building and co-prosperity of the local culture in Zhongli and Pingzhen

The project is intended to create community autonomy awareness and strengthen participation in public affairs by way of community empowerment. Workshops have been held to penetrate the community in order to grasp the past development context and exchange opinions with the local residents. Specialized teachers worked with the local residents to help them develop their care and concern for the community, consolidate their sense of belonging and further have them devoted to local affairs. Community empowerment is adopted to build the local interaction network to achieve the sustainable development of the community. In terms of building the art foundation, the team has continuously compiled the cultural and historical materials of the military dependents’ village and the Hakka culture in the community care centers, and assisted in the promotion of the development of local cultural and creative products, as well as the curation of local and external art creation. At the same time, the University offers specialized Hakka language application course. The course curriculum has been developed with the participation of students. The relevant persons from the project’s collaborating units, Landseed International Hospital and Shin Yan Ping Comminute College, were invited to the class as professional mentors to share their local industrial experiences to enhance students’ feeling of different situations and connection with the local community. With regard to environmental sustainability, campus plants are introduced to the University’s teachers and students as well as the community residents who are brought close to the nature by way of the campus plant guide workshop run by the National Central University and the creation of campus plant database. They will understand the characteristics of local plants and moreover develop connection with the campus. At the same time, students have learned to proactively face environmental issues and incorporate their experiences from environmental actions into their learning activities. The implementation effectiveness of the project focuses on the introduction of the resources from the public sector into the place of practice so as to build strong foundation for the local art. At the same time, the project offers innovative courses to activate ethnical cultures. The project team has penetrated the local neighborhood to communicate with the local community and held series of “Community Art, Cultural and Creative Landscape Improvement Plan” to encourage the local residents to participate in local affairs, manage and further improve the community.