The Ministry of Culture’s 16th Arts & Business Awards was held at the Huashan 1914 Creative Park on November 16. The Bank of Taiwan has won three consecutive“Gold Awards”in six years, and this year, it received the special award“Annual Sponsorship Award”for the restoration of the“Former Japanese Dormitory of Nancaiyuan - A Municipal Historic Monument”. This demonstrates the bank’s commitment to promoting, preserving, and developing arts and culture in Taiwan, and its efforts and special contributions have been positively recognized by the Ministry of Culture.

Under the leadership of Chairman Lyu Jye-Cherng, the bank has launched a series of Arts Festival Bank of Taiwan calls for entry competitions since 2017. The competition has been held for seven straight years without interruption even during the pandemic. The art and culture activities promoted and engaged by the Bank of Taiwan are becoming more diverse, including painting, photography, calligraphy, and concerts. The bank aspires to provide an interactive stage for artists to realize their ambitions, and to help more artists by giving them support and encouragement along their creative journeys.

The Bank of Taiwan possesses a plethora of rare cultural assets. To preserve the architectural form and structural features of Nancaiyuan, and to restore the century-old Japanese traditional building to its former glory, the“Former Japanese Dormitory of Nancaiyuan Restoration Project”was launched in 2020 for the municipal historic monument. The site was formerly the Japanese staff dormitory of“Bank of Taiwan Co., Ltd.”, or the Bank of Taiwan. Constructed around 1919-1920 in the Taishō period, it is an important cultural relic that bore witness to Taipei City’s development and the lives of its citizens. The bank has long been devoted to restoring historical buildings, hoping that the revitalization of historic monuments will continue the abundant vitality of the city so that the value of historical buildings can be maintained and developed sustainably.

In recent years, the issue of sustainable development has become a global trend, and the sustainability of art and culture is an important and integral part of this trend. Using art as a medium, the Bank of Taiwan will continue to instill the philosophy of aesthetics and sustainability in corporate culture through art festivals and the preservation of cultural assets. In doing so, the aim is to hold on to the heritage of local aesthetics in Taiwan, promote and preserve art and cultural assets, and contribute to the sustainable development of art.