Student group at Washington University in St. Louis fundraises for ATAYAL during their film festival and invites Executive Director as guest speaker

Written by Sylvia Dean

St. Louis - November 12, 2019 - After hosting a successful film festival that included fundraising for the ATAYAL organization, the Taiwanese Students Organization (TSO) of Washington University in St. Louis invited Tony Coolidge, Executive Director of the nonprofit, to speak after the screening of the movie, “Long Time No Sea (只有大海知道).” The TSO hosts a variety of Taiwanese cultural events every year including banquets, cultural discussions and panels, and movie screenings.

The fundraiser for ATAYAL was initiated due to the similarities between ATAYAL’s mission and the topics discussed in the film, which follows the journey of a young boy from the Tao tribe as he learns more about his culture. The 104 people who attended the showing were greeted with free food, a photo booth, and a table for attendees to learn about the ATAYAL organization.

“Indigenous populations around the world have often been neglected and underrepresented, and one of our goals from hosting this screening event was to raise awareness about the situation of indigenous people in Taiwan,” said Phillip Chen, a senior at Washington University and co-president of TSO, alongside Young Shiuan. “ATAYAL approaches this issue in a special and sustainable way, and we as TSO want to support ATAYAL in achieving the goals set out in the mission statement.”

Coolidge hosted an informative Q&A session as a follow-up to the film, to help the participants better understand Taiwanese indigenous people and the issues they face. He emphasized that many indigenous parents choose to focus their children on education and work, rather than their ethnicity. However, by creating indigenous tourism to their villages, the influx of visitors provides an opportunity for villages to develop an indigenous-based economy. In the eyes of the parents, this opportunity for international exchange has tangible value.

“Tony offered a chance for attendees to ask any questions the film may have raised, and also gave us an opportunity to speak to a well-informed individual who was connected with the indigenous population in Taiwan,” said Chen. “We were able to learn more about the situation of indigenous people in Taiwan, and we also learned the ways that we can contribute.”

The ATAYAL organization is a 501 (c)(3) non-profit organization registered in Florida and Washington State, USA. Its mission is to preserve indigenous cultures and empower indigenous peoples by building bridges, or cooperation opportunities, that connect indigenous communities around the world. It was founded in 2001, and continues to organize and facilitate indigenous exchanges through its committed staff of volunteers and network of indigenous representatives.

For more information about the ATAYAL organization, please visit our website at https://www.indigenousbridges.org/. To follow up on this Press Release, please contact:

Sylvia Dean

Media Coordinator

ATAYAL organization

E-mail: press@indigenousbridges.org