The tragicomedy of reviewing Meritorious Artists and People's Artists: If you love them, vote, if you hate them,… cross them out?

The people are the most objective and impartial "judges".

According to schedule, the results of the 10th People's Artist and Meritorious Artist award ceremony should have been announced on the occasion of National Day, September 2, 2022, but due to many reasons, the award ceremony has not taken place until November 2023 and is expected to be held in 2024.

Accordingly, the criteria for considering the awarding of the titles of Meritorious Artist and People's Artist are applied for the first time according to the new Decree.

To be awarded the title of People's Artist, the artist must have at least 2 national gold awards (including 1 individual gold award). If there is no individual gold award, the artist must have at least 3 national gold awards.

With the title of Meritorious Artist, the artist must have at least 1 national gold award and 2 national silver awards (including 1 individual gold award)...

Individuals with outstanding contributions and artistic talent but lacking awards according to regulations will be discussed and evaluated by councils at all levels as special cases to be submitted to the Prime Minister for consideration.

It was thought that the review would follow "rigid" regulations, but the recent uproar has made many people question the criteria for reviewing the titles of Meritorious Artist and People's Artist.

People's Artist Le Tien Tho - former Deputy Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism, former Chairman of Vietnam Stage Artists Association (Photo: Organizing Committee).

Sharing with Dan Tri reporter, People's Artist Le Tien Tho - former Deputy Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism (MCST), former Chairman of Vietnam Stage Artists Association said that the awarding of the title of Meritorious Artist and People's Artist must go through 5 councils: Grassroots Council; Provincial and Municipal Council; Ministerial Council; State-level specialized Council (established by the Minister of MCST for each field) and State-level Council (established by the Prime Minister at the request of the Minister of MCST).

A nomination file must undergo the evaluation of more than 40 members of 5 Selection Councils from all regions and many art fields. However, Mr. Tho sees that the quality of the Meritorious Artist and People's Artist review process is decreasing in value.

"Domestic awards can still be evaluated, but international awards need to be reconsidered. There are Meritorious Artists who only need 2 gold medals to become People's Artists for leading roles, it's very easy, and that's it. The performance about packaging, no one knows what a People's Artist looks like. Therefore, the value of the title needs to be reviewed," he shared.

Mr. Tho said that to achieve the title of Meritorious Artist or People's Artist, in addition to the criteria of years of work, awards, etc., artists must also receive 80% of the votes of the Review Council for the application to be approved.

"Previously, 90% of votes were needed for the application to be approved, but the 10th round of consideration for the title of People's Artist and Meritorious Artist, which was applied for the first time under the new Decree, only 80% of votes were needed to pass.

Many people on the board work in other fields and do not care where the candidate performs or how much influence they have, but only look at the awards on their profile, so they are emotional," Mr. Tho shared.

Sharing the same view, People's Artist Vuong Duy Bien - former Deputy Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism, Vice President of the Vietnam Union of Literature and Arts Associations - said that he himself had sat on the Review Council and felt that the evaluations of the members were very different.

"Even the Council members' assessments are contradictory. There are people who vote for this person because they love him, and cross out another person because they don't love him," Mr. Vuong Duy Bien frankly said.

People's Artist Thanh Hoa - President of the Association for Protection of Rights of Vietnamese Music Performing Artists (APPA) (Photo: Organizing Committee).

Sharing the same opinion with People's Artist Le Tien Tho and People's Artist Vuong Duy Bien, People's Artist Thanh Hoa - Chairman of the Association for the Protection of the Rights of Vietnamese Music Performing Artists (APPA) - said that the people sitting on the Review Council are all people from different fields, they only know deeply about the field they work in, but not about other art fields.

So, voting for someone in another field is unreasonable and one may not know how the reputation of an artist in another field spreads.

People's Artist Tien Tho also pointed out another shortcoming of the awarding of titles: recently, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism as well as professional associations have opened many competitions, festivals, and awards have also been expanded, but Mr. Tho questioned whether those awards create the true value of the title? Or do actors participate in festivals and performances just to get medals to be considered for the title of Meritorious Artist or People's Artist?

Therefore, Mr. Tho proposed that when reviewing titles, there should be clear criteria that serve the people because the people are the most objective and impartial "judges".

People's Artist Thanh Hoa also frankly said: "Talented artists have little time to compete or attend festivals. In our time, there were no competitions, we just had to "stretch out" to serve the audience. If we just judge gold and silver medals, those who do not participate in festivals and performances will be at a disadvantage. If you are a People's Artist, let the people vote," Ms. Thanh Hoa shared.

Are retired artists and freelance artists disadvantaged in the review process?

People's Artist Thanh Hoa added that this year she was invited to join the Meritorious Artist and People's Artist Review Board, but for many reasons, she refused. In previous years, she also spoke out strongly about the difficulties and absurdities of the review process, but many problems still existed, which made her very sad.

"I'm still struggling with this. If singers are recognized for their voices, what about the people in the orchestra and behind the stage? They work together, they silently contribute to making the work better, but are they honored? Last year I sat on the Review Board, spoke up a lot, talked a lot at conferences, but this year it's still the same," People's Artist Thanh Hoa expressed.

"Still the same" that People's Artist Thanh Hoa mentioned is that the current accumulation and conversion of % of award medals is quite mechanical.

"Why add up several silver medals to get a gold medal? Gold is "pure gold" and should not be accumulated. If medals are used as criteria, many artists will do everything they can to participate in festivals and competitions to get medals. Getting medals too easily also reduces the value of the title.

Hopefully, the reviewers, for the common good, will not reduce the prestige of noble titles. If people in the profession find it satisfactory, there will not be petitions like in the past," Ms. Thanh Hoa frankly said.

In response to the question, why is there still a lot of noise after the 10th time of awarding the title of Meritorious Artist and People's Artist?, People's Artist Le Tien Tho explained: "Because the criteria are not scientific, strict, and there is still a lot of emotion. In the past, the awarding of titles was stricter than now. Like the awarding of People's Artist to Dang Thai Son - at that time this artist was only nearly 30 years old but there was no controversy.

But recently it has been too noisy. Therefore, the criteria set must be quantitative and convincing to the majority, not general regulations."

People's Artist Vuong Duy Bien is concerned about awarding the titles of Meritorious Artist and People's Artist to retired artists and freelance artists (Photo: Provided by the character).

People's Artist Vuong Duy Bien believes that there is a paradox in evaluating talent in Vietnam. Many talented singers, loved by many audiences, sell tickets as soon as they appear, but do not care about the title review.

"Many artists and singers from the South in this case such as My Tam, Ha Anh Tuan... do not participate in festivals, performances, do not have medals, so they do not meet the criteria for the title, so we are missing out on talented people," Mr. Vuong Duy Bien pointed out the "loopholes" in the review criteria.

Former Deputy Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Vuong Duy Bien added that many elderly artists have retired and cannot participate in competitions to win more medals, so they cannot be considered for Meritorious Artist and People's Artist titles.

According to Mr. Bien, My Tam is one of the talented singers but is not "interested" in being considered for the title of Meritorious Artist or People's Artist (Photo: Organizing Committee).

"Therefore, the criteria also need to be clarified, can retired artists and freelance artists participate in festivals? Some artists are only awarded posthumously after their death. Many artists are only considered for titles after their retirement, so this honor is too late.

In reality, many talented people are only at a moderate level but due to many factors are still awarded titles. In my opinion, artists who receive the title of Meritorious Artist or People's Artist must be outstanding, and cannot "sink", Mr. Bien said.

The 10th round of awarding the titles of People's Artist and Meritorious Artist was applied for the first time under the new Decree.

In order for an individual to achieve the title of Meritorious Artist or People's Artist, in addition to the criteria of years of work, awards... councils at all levels also discuss and evaluate special cases to submit to the Prime Minister for consideration and decision.

In July 2022, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism announced 139 dossiers proposing the title of People's Artist and 348 dossiers proposing the title of Meritorious Artist for the 10th time submitted to the State Council.

From August 2022, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism will post on its website a list of 139 applications for the title of People's Artist and 348 applications for the title of Meritorious Artist to solicit public opinion.

Public consultation was conducted 20 days before the State Council met as prescribed.

The list was submitted by 5 specialized councils to the State Council. Of the list of 139 applications for People's Artist consideration, so far, 77 people have met the criteria and have been approved.

According to Decision 724/QD-CTN signed by the President on June 22, 77 individuals were awarded the title of People's Artist. On November 28, President Vo Van Thuong also signed Decision 1431/QD-CTN, including 42 individuals awarded the title of People's Artist.

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