| Q1：Why did you choose Shizhi as the location of Dream Community? |
A1：The location where Dream Community is was called Camphor Tree Bay. It was barren and worthless. My family has been farmers here for many generations. As the time changes, so should we. We gave up farming. Instead of selling this land to indifferent consortium, I chose to build a new community of my own. I wanted to build houses that make Shizhi people proud on my ancestor's land.
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| Q2：What was the incentive to start up Foundation of Dream Community? |
A2：It was a strange story because the motive was Typhoon Xangsane. I was constructing the community with best materials and designation. But I understood that if I wanted to connect residents together, make them feel as one group, the trick is not the house, but their affection and interaction. I tried hard to hold activities like day trips and farming teaching in order to bring residents together. I wanted to make residents from other places feeling the community is their home. However, when the flood was brought by the typhoon, many people gave up their house and resell them in cheaper prices. This made my decision to travel around the world to see how others construct communities.
By opportunity I went to Seattle in America. I joined the first ever parade in my life-ummer Solstice Parade & Pageant. I witnessed more than 100,000 people having fun along the street. I saw the participants making props and performing with their bests. I felt the passionate interaction between watchers and performers. The whole community was brought together. I was shocked and touched by this powerful belongingness, energy, and creativity. So I decided to make my community like Fremont. It has not only a high-quality residence, but also a festive, cultural, and artistic community. I made my mind to introduce the idea of artistic freedom to the dream community and found the Foundation. Since then, playing with art has become the target of the foundation.
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Q3：What were the difficulties at the beginning? And how did you solve them? |
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A3：It was just a mission impossible to hold carnivals in Taiwan. When I came back from Fremont, I made briefings to the residents. I often heard people saying ‘That only happens in foreign countries. You want me to go on the street wearing that? It’s too embarrassing.’ In the first year, I could barely recruit 200 people, and some of them needed to get drunk to go to the parade. I’ve struggled for two or three years until some foreign artists told me their comments. They said the participants were not enjoying in the parade. The facial expressions were plain. The bodies were not swaying with the music. The bands were not joyful. Therefore, I traveled again, and invited artists around the world to Taiwan and helped out.
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Q4：What is the reason for you to perform fire-bellowing shows these years? |
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A4：I joined an art event of fire-Burning Man in Nevada, U.S.A. I was shocked by the huge flame in the sky before the end of Burning Man. That scene started up my idea to bellow fire. From then on, I carried kerosene and torches to perform fire-bellowing. It successfully caught people’s eyes and I could deliver the freed-yourself spirit to them. In fact, I get an upset stomach because of kerosene, and I need to ice my feet after the parade. Even so, I believe that as long as I can bring happiness to others through arts, I can change the bitterness into joyfulness.
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Q5：What does Carnival mean to you? |
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A5：Carnival is a self-encouragement and a life-praise for me. Through participations in carnivals around the world, I understood that all participants, regardless of status, appearance, or wealth, are happiest during carnivals. You have to let go of the burden of real life, to enjoy, and to have fun.
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Q6：Why did the foundation extend itself beyond Dream Community and promote the carnival spirit around Taiwan? |
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A6：At first, I thought my hometown is Shizhi, and then I realized that every corner of Taiwan should be my hometown. I need to tell the country carnival arts in life and enjoy the moment of your time. Dream will come true when we take actual action. The foundation seeks the exchange and blending of local culture and foreign art. Taiwanese traditional cultural reestablishment, promotion, extension, and preservation are all critical. Through the creation of art, I believe that we can discover a unique value for Taiwan society. We can show the world the special charm, exclusive characteristics, and rich culture. So that countries in the world will befriend Taiwan.
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Q7：What is your dream right now? |
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A7：I truly hope that I can hold a shiny and unmatched carnival in my life. It will sparkle the specialties of Taiwan on the international stage. People would like to fly to Taiwan from different countries just for this carnival parade. It is the target I’m fighting for. My dream.
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Mr. Gordon Tsai (Mr. Tsai) is a construction businessman. He built the Dream Carnival Festival by collecting resources and inviting local and foreign artists and groups. Such an act even induced misunderstanding from his families. Mr. Tsai wanted to build a top community on the land of his family. Because of his passions on art, he wanted to carry out art activities, like Dream Carnival, in the community.