The Yi-lan International Children’s Folklore & Folkgame Festival (YICFFF) is
– an annual festival, taking place in July and August in Dong-shan River Chin-shuei Park, Yilan, northeast part of Taiwan, whose four main themes are performance, exhibition, games and exchange.
– a happy festival with four major themes, performance, games, exhibition and exchange in which different programs and facilities are available for people, especially the family to enjoy a happy summer.
– a festival for cultural exchange in which folk groups from different parts of the world get together to make a performance for the public, showing and promoting the folk art and culture of their countries, learning from each other, getting to know different cultures and make friends on earth through the different activities, arranged by the festival organization such as Group’s Night, Home Dish of each county, Country Day…etc and experience the culture and life of Taiwan while the local people can know more about the world without the need to go abroad.
– a qualified international festival, which is recognized as CIOFF® International Festival by CIOFF® on 11 November 2010.

Till 2019, this event has had 383 international participating groups from 98 countries on earth and attracted more than 10,000,000 visitors since its establishment in 1996.

For more information, please refer to http://www.yicfff.tw or http://www.facebook.com/YICFFF

 A: General Information:

• The Festival takes place in Chin- shui Park of Dong Shan River in Yi-lan County, Northeast of Taiwan.
• The festival organization will provide the participating group food & lodgment and local transportation during its staying at Yi-lan. In addition, transportation from and to the Taoyuan International Airport is also available.
• The participating group will stay in the students’ dormitory of the colleges or university in Yilan. There will be 4 people in one room with air conditioning. Inside the room, there are a desk, clothes chest and wooden bed. The toilet and bathroom are NOT included in the room but at the same floor where the group lives. There are coin washing machine and dryer for laundry. Each participating group has to follow the dormitory rules, set by the festival organization without objection.
• The festival organization will provide 3 meals plus one-afternoon tea in the restaurant, set in the students’ dormitory.
• Each participating group is responsible for its own international travel expense, which refers to the round- trip airfare between its country and Taiwan with arrival at the Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport, known in the aviation world as TPE or Taipei Song-shan International Airport, known as TSA, visa to Taiwan and charge of excess luggage if there is such cost for which it’s strongly suggested that you ask your travel agency or the airline to gain more luggage weights for your delegation when you buy the flight tickets. Check visa information at the Embassy of the Republic of China or Taipei Economic & Cultural Office in your country or nearest by your country or consult the indicated web-page: http://www.mofa.gov.tw/en/Content_List.aspx?n=D7B7F1B4196DD582 .

*Note: According to the immigration law of the Republic of China in Taiwan, the foreign participants in the festival should obtain first the performing permission before applying for visa to Taiwan. The festival organization will assist you in getting this official document in Taiwan, which requires at least 10 working days. Please do remember to offer the festival organization the complete name list of your delegation with all the required data, especially the passport number and date of birth of each person, scanned passports and personal photos at the same size like what shown in the passport of all your members in the due time, which we inform you AFTER we confirm your attendance in the 2019 Yi-lan International Children’s Folklore & Folkgame Festival. (Note: the scanned passport and personal photos in JPG format at max. 100 dpi should be sent to the festival organization through Google Drive or Dropbox or One Drive)

• Each participating group is obligated to obey the related staying rule of Taiwan, arriving and departing Taiwan as scheduled. Any violation, the violator and the group should be responsible for his/her own behaviour.
• The participating groups should follow the rules of Taiwan during their stay in Taiwan, especially the ones related to security and public health.
• The participating groups, interested in attending the opening ceremony held on 3^rd July 2021 in the afternoon will be expected to arrive at Yi-lan on 2^nd July 2021 and the participating groups, interested in attending the closing ceremony held on 15^th August 2021 at night should leave for their own country since 16^th August 2021. Your group must stay at our Festival for min 10 days and max 30 days (arrival and departure day excluded). It’s preferable that you choose your staying period from the following: □ 3 to 12 July □ 13 to 22 July □ 23 July to 1 August □ 2 to 11 August □ 6 to 15 August (Please note that in the mentioned staying period did NOT include the arrival and departure day, which means that when you arrange your tour, you need to arrive at Taiwan one day earlier and leave for your country one day later, for example, if you choose to take part in the first period, you have to arrive at Taiwan on 2^nd July and leave for your country on 13^th )

* NOTE: The festival organization keeps the privilege to decide your duration if there is a necessity.

• The maximum participants of the group including crews should NOT exceed 30 If the total number of your group overpasses this number, the additional members should pay the related fee for accommodation, food and excursion. The festival organization prefers 18-20 dancers ageing from 8-14 years old, 8-10 musicians and 2-4 staffs. The musicians could be youth or adults if there is a necessity. If your group’s composition is different from what mentioned above due to the performance consideration, such issue can be put on the table for discussion with the festival organization.
• The festival organization will pay daily allowance, USD$15 per performer per day while he or she stays at Yi-lan during the festival time from 3^rd July to 15^th August 2021, the arrival and departure day EXCLUDE, which serves for the emergency use for the group during the festival, for which in the official invitation, we will mention NO performing fee will be paid. Please kindly note that the pocket money will be given to max. 30 persons among them the accompanied parents, photographer, journalist, seller of souvenir, official and doctor are EXCLUDED and the festival organization has the right to judge who can get the pocket money in accordance with the real situation.
• The festival organization will arrange different schedules including a press conference, visiting activities, school visit and other activities such as Chinese folk art and handicraft seminar, group’s night, home dish, basketball game…etc. for the participating groups and each group is obligated to attend these activities arranged by the festival organization.
• The summer weather in Yi-lan will be very hot & humid (35^oC average or above). Please note your costume & health preparation.
• The major foreign language used for communication at the festival is English.
• The festival organization will buy basic accident insurance for each performer during his/ her stay in Taiwan. Please note the health/ medical insurance is NOT included, which means that the medical cost for the medical treatment, caused by the non-accidental reason such as headache, flu, stomachache, hypertension…etc. should be responsibly paid by the group itself. Therefore, it is strongly recommended that the participating group buy travel and medical insurance for its members in its country before coming to Taiwan.
• In addition to the Festival schedule, each group can arrange their own activities within their free time and should be responsible for its own travelling fee, the transportation included, and security.
• The participating group should join all activities set by the festival organization and shown in the festival schedule without any objection.
• The participating group should bring typical souvenirs or traditional handicraft of its country to sell in the assigned boost at the time, indicated by the festival organization. Sometimes, the folk music CD or dance group’s T-shirt will be nice as well. All benefit of this sale is due to the group itself and the group should be responsible for the outcome of its sale, as well whatever it is, benefit or deficit.
• The participating group should prepare a maximum of three typical or home dishes of its own country to share with other participating groups in the festival. Please do remember to bring the receipt and special spice you need. We will arrange the time for you to show your cooking skill.
• A cultural tour around the Yi-lan communities will be arranged on the excursion day, arranged for the participating group, which takes place every 7 to 10 days in accordance with the real situation. Such tour, arranged by the festival organization is free of charge; however, if the group insists on taking its own trip, its members should be responsible for all the expenditures such as transportation fee, lunch fee, entrance fee…etc by themselves and they must pay all the expenses for their guides, assigned by the festival organization as well.
• The participating group can NOT demand any remuneration for possible photography, filming or recording in TV, Radio, etc. during their stay in the festival, arranged by the festival organization while the festival organization has the full right to take photos or film the performance and activities done by the participating groups for non-commercial purposes.
• The participating group should be responsible for its own properties, which refer to the personal belongings, music instruments, performing costume and related performing pops.

B: Performance Regulation:

• The participating group is required to prepare a program of folk music and dance of max. 60 minutes with live music and traditional cloth. During the festival, the performance will take place in the street, square, school, park or theatre…etc in accordance with the arrangement, made by the festival organization with a duration of 60 min, b. 40 min, c. 35 d. 30 e. 25 f. 10 g. 5 min, depending on the total number of participating groups on that occasion.
• The music band of the participating group should prepare a solo program of 40 minutes and will have a chance to make solo performance in the festival for at least once.
• It is highly appreciated that the participating group can prepare shows with different subjects such as “wedding”, “harvest celebration”, “folkgames”, “special holiday celebration” or those, listed as the intangible cultural heritage…etc.
• The participating group is suggested to include 1-2 interactive dances into its performing program to attract the audiences to get involved in the group’s performance.
• There will be at least one daily show for the children’s performing group at the outdoor stage of Chin- Shui Park or any outdoor or indoor stage within the Yi-lan County. Sometimes there would be more than one show in one day.
• The festival is not competitive but all the performance, made by the participating group will be discussed and reported to CIOFF^® and other related international organization, the group’s discipline, behaviour in the festival and cooperation with the festival organization included.
• The participating group should teach traditional folk dance or folkgame and present the culture and art of its own country to the audience or local schools. The whole session lasts for max. 60 minutes.
• The participating group should share with other participating groups its own folk dance, music or game at Group’s Night, arranged by the festival organization whose purpose is to create a chance for the participating groups to know each other more personally and culturally.
• There might be additional performances or activities outside the Chin- Shui Park for festival propaganda, requiring the attendance of the participating groups, which is not set within the festival original schedule. The festival organization will inform the group in advance when this situation occurs.
• Please reply to your application form and send the required promotional material no later than 20^th January 2021. The festival organization will confirm your participation with the official invitation AFTER revising all the information you send and assuring your performing quality and content coincide with the expectation of the festival organization. It is strongly suggested that the participating group starts to arrange the international flight ticket AFTER receiving the official invitation and related document or any economic loss for it is IRRELEVANT to the festival organization. Moreover, the acceptance of the official invitation, issued by the festival organizing committee from the group’s side means the group’s full awareness and agreement with all conditions, set in this paper and the related document, offered by the festival organization. The festival organization is irresponsible for any loss of the participating group, especially the economic one before its arrival at Taiwan when the festival takes place as scheduled and if the festival is cancelled due to force majeure such as natural disasters or pandemic, SARS, COVID- 19…etc with the presentation of related evidence at a certain time in advance.