Many colleges in Taiwan have their own arts and cultural centers to promote on-campus arts and culture activities and humanity education. This has become an important bridge for the interaction of the college with the government and civil cultural organizations.

In October 1991, the Preparatory Office of the NTOU Art Center was established with the renowned cellist Chen-Chieh Chang as the first resident artist to take charge of the administration of the Center and to organize various events.  In April 2003, an amendment of the NTOU Organization Charter designated the Arts and Culture Center as a second-level administrative unit under the library (the library and the computer center were later merged into the Office of Library and Information Technology in August 2008). The Advisory Committee of the Art Center was organized in November 2007, and the Center was reorganized to be under the General Education Center as a second-level unit on August 1, 2013. It is hoped that, in addition to the outstanding achievements on marine science, NTOU also plays a key role in arts and cultural development in Keelung.