五年了，聊聊臺南藝術節吧。
「迄今邁入第五屆的臺南藝術節，自2012年起以文化首都之名，舉三大主題旗幟，盼在既有古蹟與美食印象之外，號召各地優秀演藝團隊，將表演帶入生活，打造城市遍地是舞臺、生活俯拾皆藝術的氛圍，降低舞臺高度，卸下劇場藩籬，獨一無二的藝術節模式，期讓臺南成為我國文化藝術指標。」
以上，是初辦臺南藝術節的願景，然而實際執行的難度，其中艱辛波折，絕非紙上談兵輕鬆，「五」在各種意義而言是坎站，亦是樹立里程碑的節點，從一至五的跨度，是不斷反省並持續滾動式創新，一個汲取經驗並持續思變的過程，回望初衷，最初面臨的問題在於，未曾舉辦地方藝術節的古都，如何定位屬於臺南藝術節的模樣？
以此為目標，繼而催生三大主題：「國際經典」，以跨國合作為主軸，邀請世界各地名家獻藝；「臺灣精湛」，邀演全國傑出演藝團隊，於本市既有劇場空間演出，如各文化中心演藝廳、原生劇場等；而「城市舞臺」立基於臺南得天獨厚的城市條件，於古蹟、街道等非典型場域，以環境劇場概念並設定主題對外徵件，同時鼓勵臺南在地空間自主設計節目，亦是臺南藝術節長期經營的主要品牌。
歷經首屆初試啼聲，由大衛‧蓋瑞完美跨界揭開序幕，第二屆至第三屆，提出「最在地‧最國際‧最文學」標語，邀請波伽利等天籟美聲，並以文學文本為徵件主題，透過表演藝術再創文學與臺南的對話；第四屆則特邀世紀音樂大師久石讓於臺南唯一演出，且以「泥土記憶」為題，細數古都前世風華，觀照在地人文歷史、生態景觀，請國人與臺南交換記憶。本屆「謎走古城」主題則以冒險、解謎、都市傳說等趣味新穎元素，廣發挑戰書，請觀眾抽絲剝繭，一同登入臺南這座表演藝術遊戲場。
幾經流變中可窺藝術節脈絡，漸以多元嘗試，重點聚焦，跳脫框架而又擁抱傳統美學的步趨，發展出歷年經典的億載金城大型製作，如《夜櫻星空─海莉演唱會》、《國王歌手演唱會》；亦有綜合國樂、特技之《十面埋伏》。「城市舞臺」系列演出更是貫徹俯拾皆藝術的精神，在安平樹屋、吳園等古蹟演戲已是基本款，么八二、陳德聚堂、B.B.ART各式民宅表演隨手捻來，到了本屆更有鹽山、公車等對觀眾及團隊都是挑戰的空間加入。本屆與香港劇場空間首次共同創作《雙城紀失》，編織於兩地往返間重疊交錯的城市情感；而去年開幕的奇美博物館，今年也將加入藝術節的行列，由來自歐洲的七大聲樂家獻唱最經典的歌劇、音樂劇曲目；《樹下人情味》則以對百年鄰居老樹市民的關懷為發想，延伸一系列在樹下說書、表演的節目，讓國人以不同角度重新認識老樹。放眼世界，舉城歡騰的節慶，帶來的不僅是表演藝術齊聚一堂的盛會，更是按圖索驥的城市記憶追尋之旅，我們踩在臺南土地上，說自己的故事，演奏自己的樂章。
五年，一如臺南懷舊的親切古樸氛圍，秉著自成一格土生土長的傲氣，臺南藝術節，將與所有在風雨中等待場燈三明三滅，始終不離不棄的你們，堅定前行，創造更多臺南限定的可能與感動。
Tainan Arts Festival‧The Exclusive Arts Festival in Tainan
─ We weed through the old to bring forth the new and still keep revolving
Tainan Arts festival (TNAF) has been held for 5 years since 2012. Except the impression of historical site and delicacy, we are calling for splendid groups to bring performance into daily life, to turn the city into stage in the name of culture capital and come up with three main themes. The unlimited boundary of theater is the uniqueness of TNAF. We expect Tainan to be the target of culture and art in Taiwan.
What mentioned above is the initial vision of holding TNAF, yet no words can express the difficulties and obstacles during the process. Five years is a paragraph in every aspect and also the milestone. From the 1st to the 5th, we keep introspecting and revolving. Look back on the first question we have encountered: how can we define TNAF that is taken place in an ancient city where is no arts festival before?
We came up with three main themes: “International Classical” is transnational cooperation, which invites famous performers all over the world; “Taiwan Grandness”, which invites Taiwan outstanding performing art groups to present their works at auditorium in culture centers throughout Tainan; and “City Stage” is based on the concept of environmental theater, which relies on the exceptionally gifted conditions of Tainan. We set up certain theme and open call for the performances in historical sites, alleys and other unconventional stage spaces. This is also the core branding of TNAF.
The crossover violin performance of David Garrett was the prologue of the 1st TNAF. The 2nd and 3rd TNAF was rooted in literature context, which created dialogues through performing art. The 4th TNAF, we invited Hisaishi Jo to have the exclusive performance in Tainan. The theme “Soil Memory” aimed to look back the old glamour of the city and reflect local humanity, history and ecology. The theme of this year “Roaming Old City” combines adventure, riddle and city legend to invite audiences take Tainan as the performing art playground.
The change and movement can be discovered through the context. The multi attempts gradually turn to a key focus. We try to think outside of the box, meanwhile embrace traditional aesthetics. There are some classical productions of Erkunshen Fortress over the years, such as Hayley Westenra Concert, The King's Singers Concert, and House of Flying Daggers which combines Chinese music and stunt. The performances of “City Stage” fulfill the concept of art everywhere. Audiences not only can enjoy the performance at historical site, like Tree House and 吳園, but also in art space like 182, 陳德聚堂 and B.B.ART. In the 5th TNAR, some performances will even take place in the bus and at Chiku Salt Mountain that challenge performers and audiences. The first co-production Twin Cities Chronicle with Hong Kong Theater Space weaves overlapping back and forth emotions between two cities. The 2015 newly opened Chimei Museum will join TNAF and present classical opera pieces by 7 well-known European vocalists this year. An Invitation from Old Trees is the idea of concerning hundred-year old trees as citizens. We arrange story-telling and performances under the trees so that people can get closer to the old trees in a new way. TNAF is not only jubilation all over the city that forms performing arts fest, but also a journey searching for city memories. We stand on the land of Tainan. We depict our own story and create our own music. TNAF will maintain the characteristics of nostalgia and cordial simplicity and keep walking forward with all the supportive audiences. We will create more Tainan limited possibility and affection.