National Hsinchu Living Art Center Director Chuang San-hsiu:To Promote Culture, First Promote Industry 國立新竹生活美學館館長莊三修:推文創,先求「產業化」

As local pioneers of culture and art, what sort of important responsibilities do the living art centers in each locality have? How can related policies be implemented? Ideas magazine interviewed Chuang San-hsiu, director of the National Hsinchu Living Art Center, who shared with readers his ideas of how to promote living art concepts as well as how to manage the cultural and creative industries.
作為文創與藝術推動的地區先鋒,各地的生活美學館擔負了什麼樣的重責大任?相關政策又是如何推動?《創新發現誌(ideas)》特別專訪新竹生活美學館館長莊三修,為讀者分享生活美學理念的推動,以及文化創意產業的經營之道。

Using “Yangmei cloth dyeing” “Matsu honeysuckle” as examples, Chuang San-hsiu said that the “Yangmei cloth dyeing” that has been promoted in recent years in the Yangmei region of Taoyuan features silk scarves dyed with a vegetable dye made from the yangmei tree, a specialty of Yangmei Township. On this basis, the locals developed their cultural industry, and then utilized resources from local universities to hold relevant workshops to cultivate new talent and dyeing techniques so that they could start mass-producing those silk scarves. They also incorporated cultural and historical scenic spots as well as guided trails to promote the Yangmei cloth dyeing products, and then gradually adopted the co-op model to build a cooperative management system. The above methods, in conjunction with the government’s diversified employment plan, gradually formed a “local center culture and lifestyle circle” that is supported by this particular industry.
莊三修以「楊梅染」和「馬祖金銀花」為例,他說,近年在桃園楊梅地區推動的「楊梅染」,是以楊梅鎮的特產楊梅樹作為植物染的染料,以樹染絲巾為基礎,發展地方文創產業,再引進當地大學的資源,辦理相關研習,培養種子人員及樹染相關技法,將絲巾轉化提升為能「量產」的商品;並結合文史景點、導覽路線,推廣楊梅染產品;之後,又逐步採行合作社模式,建立共同經營體制,並朝向配合政府多元就業方案,逐漸發展出一個由特色產業支持的「地方中心文化生活圈」的模式。

Chuang stressed that in order to develop an industry based on creative lifestyles, you must make whatever you’re selling either the best there is or one of a kind, emphasizing that you must “have what others don’t have, and be better than others at what others can also do.” For instance, although Matsu boasts historic battlefields, it should not overplay the “battlefield” theme because compared to Kinmen, Matsu lags far behind in terms of tourism resources in that area.
莊三修強調,要發展創意生活產業,主打的特色「不是要第一,就是要唯一」,所以必須抓住「人無我有,人有我強」的精神。例如馬祖雖有悠久的戰地前線歷史,卻不宜過度主打「戰地」主題,因為相對於金門,馬祖的「積分」就遠遜其後了。