TSMC Education and Culture Foundation

The TSMC Education and Culture Foundation, established in 1998 to coordinate the Company’s sponsorship as part of its efforts in corporate social responsibility, continues to devote its resources towards education, promotion of art and culture events, community building, and the employee volunteer program.

In 2012, the TSMC Foundation continued to contribute NT$63 million to its long-term projects of promoting education and arts. In science education, “Lifting the Ability of High School Physics Experiments,” cooperated with Wu Chien-shiung Education Foundation and the Ministry of Education, this public/private partnership gained overwhelmingly responses from school teachers. The TSMC Foundation also supported National Tsing-hua University to hold “Senior High School Academic Train” to promote lecture courses for academic knowledge in senior high schools. In art education, TSMC brought 10,000 students to visit the exhibition “King Wu Ding and Lady Hao: Art and Culture of the Late Shang Dynasty” in National Palace Museum. And the TSMC Foundation continued its support of the Taipei Fine Arts Museum to build up the “TSMC Children’s Art Education Center,” which will be operated in 2013. Aside from financial sponsorships, the TSMC Foundation supports TSMC Volunteer Society, organizing the employees to devote themselves to the caring of the underprivileged of the communities.

Commitment to Aesthetic and Scientific Education

Talents are essential to the development of the economy. As a leader of Taiwan’s knowledge-based industry, TSMC regards cultivating talented people for society as a core responsibility. Thus the TSMC Foundation tailors various programs to target a whole range of education needs at different age levels.

At the primary-school level, the TSMC Foundation’s focus is on aesthetic education. To bridge the urban-rural gap, we launched the “TSMC Aesthetic Tour” to take children from remote townships to visit National Palace Museum, Taipei Fine Arts Museum, and the exhibitions for inspiring their interest in art. This year, in addition to the annual visitation plan, the TSMC Foundation took more than 10,000 students from junior high schools and primary schools to visit the exhibition “King Wu Ding and Lady Hao: Art and Culture of the Late Shang Dynasty” for increasing their understanding of Chinese Ancient Art and Culture. Over the last 10 years, over 70,000 students have participated in the tour to cultivate their appreciation of art. As part of TSMC’s aesthetic education plan, the TSMC Foundation continued to support the Taipei Fine Arts Museum to expand the “TSMC Children’s Art Education Center,” which will be the most important base for promoting children’s art education in Taiwan.

At the high school level, TSMC emphasizes the need for a balanced education in both science and the humanities. In science, collaborating with the Education Prime Minister and the Wu Chien-Shiung Foundation, the TSMC Foundation continued the project “Lifting the Ability of High School Physics Experiments” for the third consecutive year. One week’s training offered science teachers a chance to enhance their teaching skills and experimental abilities. As of the end of 2012, the program has provided professional development for 159 science teachers, reaching over 30,000 high school students nationwide. In addition to the teachers’ training, TSMC brought science knowledge to the campuses. This year the TSMC Foundation supported National Tsing-hua University to launch the “Senior High School Academic Train,” inviting professors from the University to introduce senior high school students to the latest knowledge of technology and common knowledge for daily life and science. The courses will be held in twelve senior high schools located in northern, central, southern, eastern and Kinmen areas. At the same time the TSMC Foundation continued to sponsor science camps for talented science students to meet with world-class scholars for inspiring their scientific potential.

In the humanities, the TSMC Foundation organized the fifth “TSMC Youth Calligraphy Contest,” holding three workshops at three high schools to inspire the students to appreciate the beauty and cultural richness of calligraphy. The TSMC Foundation also continued the TSMC Youth Literature Award to encourage talented young writer to create new works for nine years. In addition to the competition, we also invited famous writers to held lectures for students and the public to increase their appreciation for literature.

At the college level, in 2012 the TSMC Foundation continued its “TSMC Mentor Scholarship” to support and encourage underprivileged students of National Tsing Hua University and National Central University. In addition to providing financial assistance, the TSMC Foundation recruited senior TSMC employees to mentor the students regularly. We hope that the rich practical experience of TSMC employees can provide productive consultations for the students both in schools and future career paths. In the meantime, the TSMC Foundation continued to endow chair professorships to enhance academic research of Taiwan universities.

Promotion of Arts and Culture

The TSMC Education and Culture Foundation has for years devoted its efforts to the promotion of Taiwan Art Groups. This year, the TSMC Foundation supported the National Symphony Orchestra to perform Opera Australia Production “Madama Butterfly,” one of Giacomo Puccini’s masterpieces. The performance showcased not only Taiwan Artists’ phenomenal performance but also the paradigm of sino-western art and culture exchange.

Promoting Chinese Philosophy is also the core program of the TSMC Foundation. After Confucius Analects, the TSMC Foundation continued to promote another Chinese Classic, Chung-tzu. We invited Professor Hsin Yih-yun to produce the broadcasting program “Analects in Chung-tzu’s View”. Through Professor Hsin Yih-yun’s rich knowledge and vivid examples, the TSMC Foundation hopes that more people can understand Chung-tzu’s philosophy, and gain wisdom from it. Noting the importance of preserving historic sites, the TSMC Foundation continued to sponsor the Taipei Story House’s Literature Salon. Cultural activities such as regular author readings on the site gave the old building a new life and attracted the general public to this cultural heritage site.

Community Building

The TSMC Foundation continues to promote arts and cultural activities in our site communities. Every year we organize the TSMC Hsin-chu Art Festival to bring cultural activities to these high-tech cities and encourage a greater art appreciation in the communities. This year is the 10th anniversary of the TSMC Hsin-chu Arts Festival. In past years, through the TSMC Foundation’s invitation, numerous masters had been gathered at the festival. Such as Chinese Opera performers Pai Hsien-yung, Wu Hsing-kuo, Wei Hai-ming, and Li Bao-chun as well as the great classical music masters Lin Cho-liang, Li Yun-di, Ann-Sophie Mutter, James Galway and Kun Woo Paik brought the inhabitants marvelous performances and concerts. For the last ten years, more than 230,000 participants enjoyed the programs presented by the TSMC Hsin-chu Festival.

This year, following the steps of TSMC’s building sites, the Hsin-chu Art Festival was held not only at Hsinchu and Tainan, but also Taichung. For Chinese opera fans the TSMC Foundation hosted the “One Hundred Years on Stage” performed by the Guoguang Opera Company. Gathering together Taiwan’s most fantastic performers, the play led the audience to look at the history of Chinese opera through a web of love, lust and hatred among operatic performers/characters on and off the stage. Two Taiwan major orchestras gathered at the festival for the first time. National Symphony Orchestra performed H. Berlioz’s masterpiece “Symphonie Fantastique” at Hsinchu, and National Taiwan Symphony Orchestra with the French Pianist Jean-Yves Thibaudet performed E. Grieg piano concerto in a minor. In addition to the theater performances, the TSMC Foundation also organized two activities at the public space of our communities, the children concert “The Animal Festival” held at Hsinchu Zoo Park, and the children drama “Visiting Little Confucius” held at the Confucius Temples located at both Hsinchu and Tainan. By infusing the art energy, TSMC hopes to revive the public space of our homes. More than 40 performances of the 2012 Hsin-chu Festival nurtured over 15,000 inhabitants of Hsinchu, Taichung and Tainan.