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Launching EMERGE FEST to Raise the Bar for Taichung’s Music Scene
You launched the music festival “EMERGE FEST” in Taichung in 2019. Was there a particular significance to holding the festival in Taichung?
Nuno: The main reason I’ve kept building a music brand here is because this is my hometown. If I were to run a festival in Taipei and it failed, I’d simply be another outsider who came and went. But in Taichung, even if it doesn’t succeed right away, I feel it can still help elevate the local music scene in some small but meaningful way.
Nuno: More than making money, I see it as my mission to increase the number of people in Taichung who truly love bands and music. At the beginning, we had very limited resources, and it was tough—but there was real meaning in doing this work in my hometown.
Looking back, how do you think your activities have shaped Taichung today, and what goals have you managed to achieve?
Nuno: Of the two goals I set at the start, one has already been achieved: creating an environment where people are willing to buy tickets and pay to enjoy live music.
For a long time, Taichung placed little value on the arts, and most events were free. I spent over a decade working to establish a culture where paying for music — and valuing it as something worth supporting—felt natural. The fact that festivals in Taichung now sell tens of thousands of tickets represents a huge shift.
Nuno: However, the other half of that original goal—getting more people to listen to bands from Taichung—is still a work in progress. How to nurture local artists and bring them into the spotlight remains an ongoing challenge, and it’s something I want to continue supporting in my own way.
