HA NOI — About 25 art promoters and festival organisers from around the nation will attend the first training workshop on Festival Management in Viet Nam from today to Saturday.
This activity is a part of a three-year capacity-building programme on Festival Management launched by the British Council in Ha Noi in co-operation with the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism of Viet Nam.
As well as helping to promote the arts, the British Council will also put British festival organisers in touch with their Vietnamese counterparts.
The first training workshop will be held by UK festival director Nick Dodds.
Arts promoters and festival organisers from Ha Noi, HCM City, Quang Ninh, Khanh Hoa, Hue and Binh Thuan will be in attendance.
The programme, which is part of the British Council's Global project entitled New Work New Audience, will include a series of training workshops on arts festival organisation led by UK directors and a series of wrap-around events to showcase UK and Vietnamese arts to audiences in the two countries.
"The British Council hopes through this project, festival organisers will be better able to contribute to the development of the country's cultural infrastructure," said Simon Beardow, deputy director of the British Council Viet Nam.
Nick Dodds was chief executive of the Brighton Dome and Brighton Festival from 2000 to 2008, where he was responsible for artistic and commercial operations.
Dodds oversaw the re-launch in 2002 of the Brighton Festival and Brighton Festival Fringe – England's largest arts festival. He was also responsible for the capital refurbishment of the Brighton Dome and Museum.
Dodds was formerly chairman of the British Arts Festival Association and the International Festival and Events Association –
Europe.
Dodds has been organising arts events for nearly 30 years.
"I have been waitng for this kind of event for a long time," said Huynh Tien Dat, deputy director of the Hue Festival Centre.
"Viet Nam has no school or centre offering training in festival organisation. I attended a course for cultural officers but it was a general workshop and did not focus on festival organisation," Dat said.
The programme will be held every three months in different locations. The next workshop is scheduled to be held in Hue in June. — VNS