HCM City (VNS) — A draft plan by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism to develop the fine arts in the country includes suggestions to open more art museums and expand training in the arts for students.

The plan was discussed at a conference held last week in HCM City by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism's Department of Exhibition, Photography, and Fine Arts.

The ministry also held a similar conference last month in Ha Noi to collect experts' opinions about the state of the arts in the country.

Vuong Duy Bien, deputy minister of the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, said the Prime Minister was expected to approve the plan in June.

The plan, which includes recommendations to 2020, focuses on human resources, infrastructure, investment, traditional and modern art development, and regular art fairs where Vietnamese artists can promote their works.

Speaking at the conference in HCM City, Nguyen Xuan Tien, a professor at the HCM City's University of Fine Arts, said that art training was needed at all school levels, including kindergartens.

The director of HCM City's Blue Space Gallery, Nguyen Thi Huynh Nga, told conference attendees that she had been offering painting classes to kindergarten students.

And Ma Thanh Cao, director of the HCM City Fine Arts Museum, said that schools in HCM City had been organising more field trips to handicraft villages for hands-on experiences for students.

Cao proposed to conference attendees that museums be built in different regions of Viet Nam to display local characteristics of the arts.

Speaking at the meeting, Uyen Huy, chairman of the HCM City Fine Arts Association, proposed that the city establish art fairs each year where Vietnamese artists could display their works in one venue to local and international buyers.

He said that such art fairs would help attract more investment from local and foreign businesspeople and art investors.

Experts at the conference also pointed out that art critics' articles in the media and talks on TV programmes could help spread the word about the importance of the arts.

Deputy Minister Bien said the opinions collected from experts and the public would be considered before the department makes final revisions on the draft plan and submits it to the Prime Minister. — VNS