Out of 4,000 submitted entries, Taiwan’s Romantic Route 3 Art Festival (浪漫台三線藝術季) has been awarded the 2020 Good Design Award by the Japan Institute of Design Promotion (JDP).

As Taiwan’s biggest cultural event last year, the two-month festival took place at various locations in Taipei City, Taoyuan City, Hsinchu County, Miaoli County, and Taichung City, across 10 Hakka settlements spanning 150 kilometers on Taiwan Romantic Route 3. More than 70 artists at home and abroad presented 50 artworks during the festival, and 100 cultural events were held for visitors to experience.

Promoted by the Hakka Affairs Council (HAC) and Taiwan Romantic Route 3 Special Assignment Office, the Romantic Route 3 Art Festival achieved amazing results under the collaboration between local government agencies and non-governmental organizations.

According to HAC, it is a great honor to receive the award since the Good Design Award is one of the four world-renowned design prizes, the other three being Germany’s iF Design Awards, Red Dot Design Award, and International Design Excellence Awards (IDEA) of the United States.

According to the evaluation of JDP’s Good Design Award, HAC, aiming to create new cultural imagery and inject modern energy into ethnic tradition while facing the decline of Hakka culture and language, organized the Romantic Route 3 Art Festival that attracted 700,000 visitors, “resulting in a huge economic effect and powerful media exposure for Hakka culture.”

Lin Shuen-long (林舜龍), one of the participating artists at the festival, was excited to learn that the festival has received international recognition.

Wu Han-chung (吳漢中), the design director of the Hakka art festival, expressed his gratitude for being honored with the award. Wu attributed this accomplishment to three factors, including the artistic design to raise the profile of Hakka culture on the world stage; the festival itself to mobilize and unify young people living in the Hakka settlements; and the effective teamwork of public and private sectors to carry out their tasks in a limited time period.