Taizhou city cultural vouchers program kicks off

The annual cultural vouchers program to entertain the public in Taizhou city – located in East China's Jiangsu province – kicks off on Feb 5 with a budget of 7 million yuan ($972,500).

The initiative aims to get the best performance services and funding models. The funds go mainly to support townships and streets to put on performances from professional artistic troupes and amateur groups.

The program encourages grassroots initiatives to organize a variety of cultural events around festive themes, such as the Spring Festival and the Lantern Festival.

The goal is to entertain the local population and contribute to rural vitalization through cultural prosperity. The initiative will explore new media broadcasting channels to broaden the dissemination of content and expand public access to cultural promotional services.

Opera performances are held in Taizhou villages. [Photo/WeChat ID: tztour]

Since the initiation of the program in 2016, Taizhou has allocated about 84 million yuan to distribute vouchers to urban areas, townships, villages and communities.

This has subsidized government guidance, stimulated social participation and met the cultural needs of the public.

In recent years, the city has streamlined how the vouchers program works.

Starting in 2020, it introduced grassroots activities featuring high-quality productions and in 2022, it added small theater performances to cater to changing tastes. Last year, Taizhou's cultural vouchers program featured a total of 865 performances, utilizing cultural vouchers amounting to 6.99 million yuan that benefitted over 300,000 individuals.

Additionally, 25 top programs from local cultural groups were recognized, with 20 groups selected for nurturing by the Jiangsu Province Outstanding Mass Cultural Groups.