Ho Chi Minh City determined to handle artists with "cultural deviations"

Regarding the Ho Chi Minh City Party Committee's Propaganda and Mass Mobilization Department's document requesting functional units and artists whose compositions, behaviors, words, and performances are contrary to good customs and traditions, cultural deviations, and promote loose lifestyles and social evils... to participate in the city's programs, festivals, and events, a representative of the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Culture and Sports has provided information on this issue.

At the press conference on the afternoon of October 30, 2025, Ms. Nguyen Ngoc Hang, Deputy Head of the Art Department, Department of Culture and Sports, said that Ho Chi Minh City is a locality with the most vibrant, rich and diverse artistic life in the country; one of the major cultural and artistic centers with the intersection between tradition and modernity, between the quintessence of Vietnamese and world culture.

Ms. Nguyen Ngoc Hang, Deputy Head of the Art Department, Department of Culture and Sports of Ho Chi Minh City provided information to the press at a press conference on the afternoon of October 30, 2025.

In recent times, the State management of performing arts activities in the City has always been closely directed and paid attention to by the Department of Culture and Sports; in which the Department has strengthened coordination with agencies and localities to contribute to improving the effectiveness and efficiency of State management. The Department has presided over the development of inter-sectoral coordination regulations between departments, branches and localities in Ho Chi Minh City to proactively grasp the situation and promptly handle artistic activities, thereby detecting many violations and strictly handling them according to the law, including cases of temporary suspension or ban on performance, which have created public consensus.

In addition, the Department of Culture and Sports also focuses on propaganda and dissemination of policies and laws; at the same time, creating favorable conditions for organizations and individuals working in the arts to promote their talents, contribute to the public with valuable cultural products, contributing to building an increasingly healthy cultural and artistic image of Ho Chi Minh City.

However, in addition to the positive aspects, there are still some phenomena of deviant creativity, promoting the individual "ego", showing offensiveness in content, form or expression. Some works and performances have offensive elements, use substandard language, form is not suitable with the fine cultural traditions of the nation, do not demonstrate the role and function of guiding public awareness and aesthetic taste; promote negative lifestyles, especially among young people. For violations, based on legal regulations, the Department will take resolute measures to handle; at the same time, listen to expert opinions, coordinate with organizations and unions to educate , improve the spirit of self-conscious compliance with the law and exemplary behavior of artists, contributing to building a healthy cultural environment.

For major political events and festivals in Ho Chi Minh City, the Department of Culture and Sports and relevant agencies, based on the purpose and requirements of the event, have cooperated with appropriate creative components, in which the performing artists are focused on not only professional capacity but also promoting standards in professional activities and cultural behavior. This will continue to be focused on in the coming time.

At the meeting, comrade Tang Huu Phong, Deputy Head of the Propaganda and Mass Mobilization Department of the Ho Chi Minh City Party Committee, requested that press agencies have stronger articles and opinions to contribute to creating an increasingly civilized and modern cultural environment, in line with the good cultural values ​​of Vietnam.

Source: https://cand.com.vn/Chuyen-dong-van-hoa/tp-ho-chi-minh-kien-quyet-xu-ly-cac-nghe-si-lech-chuan-van-hoa-i786444/