The workshop was hosted by the ministry's Performing Art Department to review what has and has not been done regarding the Government's Decree 79/2012 and the ministry's Circular 03/2013 on solutions to improve the management of art performances.— Photo voh

HCM CITY (VNS)— Many opinions were heard at the culture ministry's workshop to review legal documents on art performance management, mostly concentrating on limitations discovered during the first year of enforcing the regulations.

The workshop was hosted by the ministry's Performing Art Department to review what has and has not been done regarding the Government's Decree 79/2012 and the ministry's Circular 03/2013 on solutions to improve the management of art performances.

These are seen as the first legal documents in the area of performing arts that have attracted the interest of numerous artists and art performing bodies nationwide, since taking effect early last year.

Shortcomings linger

Opinions indicated that provisions of Circular 03 – a guideline for the implementation of Decree 79 on art performances, fashion shows, beauty and model contests, and recorded versions of music, dance and stage shows, remain unclear, causing confusion among management.

According to deputy chief of HCM City's culture department Vo Trong Nam, each year the department gave permission for some 400 to 650 performances with the participation of thousands of artists, let alone those conducted nightly at restaurants, bars, and hotels.

"This urgently requires the completion of legal documents on art performances," he stressed.

"In regard to performances, including the participation of foreign artists [Vietnamese abroad returning to Viet Nam to perform, as well as foreigners], that the Decree requires organisers to submit two sets of files to the municipal culture department and People's Committee is pretty complicated," Nam added.

"There should be one, instead of two, to save time and labour for organisers," he noted.

In line with weaknesses associated with the granting of permits, Nam also pointed out a range of issues arising from the punishment of unlicensed activities, changed content, copyright violations, scanty dressing, pirated videos, and other problems.

A representative from Ben Thanh Audio complained that a singer has to ask for another permit to perform for company B, since he or she was previously authorised to perform for company A. Similarly, he said, a song is licensed to be published in a VCD, but still needs permits to be published in DVD or as a karaoke programme, although the content and images are the same.

"For example, we have collected almost 200 permits for the song Dat Nuoc (The Country) by musician Pham Minh Tuan during the past 20 years," he added.

The deputy chief of the Quang Nam Province's culture department, Nguyen Van Ham, added, "The licensing for art performances, organisation of art performances, as well as fashion shows, is mostly done through the assessment of related documents submitted by individuals and organisations, rather than assessing the real performances. Hence, that the content of performances is different from what is advertised or what is defined in the licence is quite common."

The culture ministry's Deputy Chief Inspector Pham Xuan Phuc noted, "Currently, during the establishment of art performances, organising businesses is quite easy. If businesses violate the law and are deprived of licences, they can change their name [establish new business] and continue running."

Nevertheless, the culture official emphasised that these new legal documents assist enterprises in applying for licences, as well as simplify procedures in scheduling art troupes to perform in localities.

"The main objective of all documents, meetings, discussions, as well as opinions on management, is how management shall enable the development of culture, not discourage the progress of culture," said Deputy Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Ho Anh Tuan at the one-day workshop in HCM City on Friday.

The Performing Art Department has over the past years trictly punished regulations violators. Young singer Angela Phuong Trinh was temporarily prohibited from public performances for months due to her "unhealthy" dressing while performing in public, violating traditional cultural norms.

Working cards

The workshop participants also contributed opinions about the circular detailing the granting of working cards for art performances and fashion shows.

According to the chief of the Performing Art Department, Nguyen Dang Chuong, the granting of cards would begin this month and the cards would take effect on July 1. Singers, models, actors and actresses will be the first group to need cards to perform.

The circular received general agreement among the participants because it is seen as an additional sanction for violators during this period of fast and complex growth of art performances.

However, what participants were most concerned about was developing criteria to evaluate the professional capacities of performers, especially fashion models. — VNS