The 13^th Arts Festival of NTU held its opening ceremony in the evening of April 27^th. President Li Si-chen and the top administrators of the University attended the annual occasion. The copious and diversified contents of the grand event attracted many students and the general public. The series of activities will continue until May 11^th. The abundant activities of the event, which include performances by student associations, exhibitions of the installation art, lectures on art and literature, handicraft DIY,etc., are ample indication of the creativity and vitality of NTU.

  The opening ceremony was held at the front gate of the University. President Li Si-chen and top administrators of the university were invited to cut the ribbons and set off the colored firecrackers. Embellished by the sound of the firecrackers and the flowing of the multicolored ribbons, the 13th Arts Festival of NTU was officially launched.

  In delivering his opening speech, President Li emphasized the importance of the Arts Festival. He said that the Festival not only served to inspire the artitstic mind of the students, but also enhanced the liberal arts atmosphere at NTU. To stir up more potentials for creativity, for this year's Art Festival NTU especially had intramural cooperation with Taipei University of Education.

  The opening ceremony invited the Ballroom Dancing Club, the Sign Language Club, the Talk and Sing Art Club, etc, to stage their exemplary Performances. An ingenious invention is the fun show called "Revamping The stay-in-home boys and girls", whose purpose was to change the outer appearance of students who paid their attention to classes and thereby neglected their dress style. This show received enthusiastic responses from the participating audience. In addition, the ceremony also invited the seasonal champion of the popular TV variety show "Campus Singers" Mr. //Wei Li-an//(a freshman from the Department of Foreign Languages and Literature) to do his solo and famous bands like "Totem" and " Tizzy Bac" to do their live acts, imbuing the occasion with a thick air of street theatre.

  Apart from stage performances, the opening ceremony also featured joint exhibitions by student associations, creative marketplace of handicrafts, etc., which attracted many students, faculty and the general public to stop by and watch. Owing to the cool weather at night, after 7 p.m. throngs of people started to show up, making the scene bustle with noise and excitement.

  Starting from 1995, NTU holds the Arts Festival every year in May, putting up series of performances and exhibitions related to art. The Festival has become a tradition of arts and literature for NTU. This year happens to be the 13th year of the Festival. In order to avoid the inauspicious associations with the number "13^th", the theme of this year's Festival centers around "Renaissance," with a view toward overthrowing the acknowledged authorities in art, and reviving the Art Festival.

  The series of activities of the Art Festival will continue onto May 11^th, and many programs which abounds in creativity, knowledge and artistic contents will be put out in sequence. The organizing agency will also put up refreshing pieces of installation art over campus. Everyone is welcome to participate in the Festival, making the Renaissance Movement a great success!