Starting from the year of 2000, IfKids has persisted in the simple purpose of “observing the world through the eyes of children” and has found that children could accept deeper and wider aspects than what adults imaged and conceived in the core concept of “telling a whole story”.
Since 2006, we have persisted in not only telling a story but also using theatre as more of a “platform for dreams”. Besides the artistic team that create performances, we expanded our team to integrates production, execution, technology, marketing, promotion and ticket sales. With the support of such a team, we are brave enough to try multi-element themes after 2009 and hope to enlighten the imagination of children and insist on providing a newer and wider vision of children’s theatre.
IfKids keeps improving our creative energy and cooperates with many art groups for external performances such as with the National Symphony Orchestra (NSO), the Taipei Chinese Orchestra, the Ye and Shuhan Brass Quintet, etc. IfKids has also created performances and exchanges with numerous international art groups, sponsors and plans large-scale art festivals, and invites excellent domestic and overseas performance teams to come to Taiwan for performances so as to provide opportunities to adults and children to appreciate wonderful international performances in Taiwan and expand exposure to the performing arts.
IfKids has been selected as the supported team by the Council for Cultural Affairs for many consecutive years and has performed their classic works and touring performances in public benefit activities and Theatre in Education and hopes to expand such activities and go to farther places to perform. IfKids actively takes part in art promotion activities in the public sector and even represented Taiwan to sponsor Theater of the Nations with the United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization in 2008 and took part in an international children’s theatre festival at national level of Mainland China from 2011 until today.
IfKids thinks that theatre is not only performed in the theatre hall, but also exists in every corner of life. Besides our large-scale theatre performances every year, we cooperate with schools and communities to plan a series of medium- and small-sized theatre performances with education as the theme, with the development of the story on stage and through experiences of the hero, the children begin to think, observe, and try to make a selection naturally. Such understanding will be integrated into their attitude and principles of life.
We tell stories in every place no matter whether it is in hospitals, primary schools, or communities. We are ready to bring our story to any place as long as we grasp an opportunity. In addition to the establishment the IfKids Drama School to bring culture to children through eight intelligences emphasizing theatre and laughter, we have our own theater in Taipei Amusement Park to integrate appreciation of theatre into children’s lives to achieve timed and site-specific enjoyment.
Tell A Story from The Bottom of Your Heart
This world is full of too much negative, frustrating, and dejecting information. We need positive and proactive courage between each other. I hope that IfKids can retain its earliest initial purposes of finding the most faithful hearts while pursuing technological advances for the theater. IfKids will tell great stories in theaters, keep a careful and self-content heart, stand with the children, and tell stories in a warmer, closer, and deeper way to demonstrate the true colors of tasteful creative work.
We still believe in what fairytales teach us about sincere and faithful hearts. We still hope that we can keep our hearts childlike forever and ever.
Tzu-Chiang Chao