Abstract
This study investigates the evolving roles and institutional challenges of local cultural administrators in Taiwan amid the cultural and creative industries (CCI) shift toward ecosystem-oriented and technology-integrated governance. While national strategies promote cross-sector collaboration and innovation, they largely overlook the intermediary functions of municipal administrators who translate policy, coordinate institutions, and adapt frameworks to local contexts. Talent development has remained confined to industry- and market-oriented paradigms that inadequately reflect governance needs.
Focusing on Tainan, Taiwan’s designated “cultural capital,” the study asks: (1) How does the ecological transformation of CCI policy shape demand for intermediary talent? (2) How do local administrators perceive their roles and navigate institutional constraints? Using policy discourse analysis and 17 interviews with administrators and experts, the study applies the “creative ecologies” framework, emphasizing diversity, adaptability, learning, and change. Findings reveal three challenges: misalignment between national policy design and local implementation; individualized professional development with limited institutional support; and evaluation metrics privileging industrial outputs over governance capacity. Despite these constraints, administrators exhibit adaptive capacity, mediating between central directives, communities, and technology providers.
The paper calls for reframing “intermediary talent” to explicitly include governance roles. Recommendations include broadening talent definitions to cover administrative and relational capacities, institutionalizing cross-departmental platforms and training programs, and revising evaluation systems to prioritize ecosystem coordination. Recognizing municipal administrators as strategic intermediaries is essential to building resilient and adaptive cultural governance.