Ho Chi Minh City: Promoting soft power from culture for deep integration

On August 29, the Propaganda and Mass Mobilization Department of the Ho Chi Minh City Party Committee held a workshop on "Promoting the role of intellectuals and artists to meet the requirements of rapid and sustainable development of Ho Chi Minh City in the new period".

Conference scene. Photo: Tung Ngo

Presenting a paper at the workshop, Master Truong Tran Hoang Phuc (Ton Duc Thang University , Ho Chi Minh City) said that in the context of globalization and digital transformation, promoting soft power from culture has become one of the strategic driving forces to help Ho Chi Minh City affirm its own identity in the cultural field, contributing to deep integration in this field.

According to the survey results from a study by a group of experts from the Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities (Ton Duc Thang University, Ho Chi Minh City), there are still some barriers that prevent intellectuals and artists from playing their appropriate roles, including the fact that current policies are not supportive enough for them to engage in creative activities to serve the community for a long time. In particular, up to 96% want to develop digital content if supported, and 4.15/5 points is the level of support for the Urban Cultural Council model. These numbers reflect the need to institutionalize the role of creative people as a critical and co-creating subject in sustainable development.

From there, the research team proposed solutions including: Establishing a fund to support cultural creativity, strengthening interdisciplinary links, building community cultural institutions and developing a cooperation model between the state - artists - people in urban cultural planning. Thereby, Ho Chi Minh City can move towards a creative, humane and unique urban model in the new era.

Associate Professor, Dr. Nguyen Thi My Liem, Vice President of the Ho Chi Minh City Music Association, presented a paper at the conference. Photo: Tung Ngo

Presenting at the conference, Associate Professor Dr. Nguyen Thi My Liem, Vice President of the Ho Chi Minh City Music Association, said that for artists, doing what they love is freedom, but liking what they do and having people love the products they create is true happiness.

In the field of music, recently, many songs such as: “The Fatherland Calls My Name” (musician Dinh Trung Can); “Continuing the Story of Peace ” (musician Nguyen Van Chung); “Singing About the City I Love” (musician Tran Xuan Mai Tram)… have created a cultural mark on the people of Ho Chi Minh City, affirming the creative tradition and aspiration to contribute to the life of the city’s music community.

In the period when the city and the whole country enter the era of national development, on the foundation of an industrial city, Ho Chi Minh City music needs to inherit tradition, be creative, dynamic, build a music industry, contributing to the economic development of the city to become increasingly rich and beautiful.

Dr. Nguyen Minh Nhut, Deputy Head of the Culture and Society Committee (Ho Chi Minh City People's Council) said that there should be policies for artists to access the international market. Ho Chi Minh City has the ability to affirm its position as a cultural conference center of Vietnam, has many successes from individuals and organizations, as well as digital technology applications for integration and supportive policies to create motivation, but still faces many problems such as: limited human resources, lack of foreign languages, management skills in the international market...

To overcome the above weaknesses, Dr. Nguyen Minh Nhut proposed solutions, including: Perfecting international art support policies (referring to the Korean model), having a flexible licensing mechanism, improving integration capacity, providing in-depth foreign language training, promoting international exchanges, applying digital technology and learning from world experiences.

Head of the Propaganda and Mass Mobilization Department of the Ho Chi Minh City Party Committee Duong Anh Duc delivered a concluding speech at the workshop. Photo: Tung Ngo

Concluding the workshop, Member of the Standing Committee of the City Party Committee, Head of the Propaganda and Mass Mobilization Department of the Ho Chi Minh City Party Committee, Duong Anh Duc, emphasized: Ho Chi Minh City is a place where a large number of intellectuals, with many scientists and artists, are concentrated; exploiting this potential is an important task. The city has a strong research team in science - technology as well as education - training. At the same time, the city also develops two parallel streams of traditional and modern culture and art, promoting international exchanges. To achieve development goals, the city has issued policies to attract experts and encourage creativity, thereby promoting human resources in all fields.

Source: https://hanoimoi.vn/tp-ho-chi-minh-phat-huy-suc-manh-mem-tu-van-hoa-de-hoi-nhap-sau-rong-714485.html