Implementing the Cultural Development Strategy to 2030: Unleashing the creative potential of artists

Implementing the Cultural Development Strategy to 2030, many experts believe that an important solution is to take care of the development and awaken the creative potential of artists.

Special art program to welcome the National Cultural Conference Photo: TR. HUAN

“In the end, all the successes, weaknesses, and failures of the country’s literature and arts today all originate from people, from the team of artists. It must be said right away that the most fundamental factor that makes a person an artist is talent and aptitude. Without this factor, it is absolutely impossible to become an artist, that is why artists have always been considered “rare” in the world…”, Associate Professor, Doctor of Musician Do Hong Quan, Chairman of the Vietnam Union of Literature and Arts Associations, acknowledged.

Artists and the challenge of self-renewal

According to the President of the Vietnam Union of Literature and Arts Associations Do Hong Quan: “The further we move on the path of innovation and international integration, especially in the context of globalization, competition and increasingly deep international integration, our cultural and artistic sector has new opportunities, but also has to face many new challenges. Among them, the most difficult is the transformation, self-renewal to rise up to be worthy of the nation and the times without getting lost, deviating, and not selling ourselves to all the temptations of the market mechanism…”.

Looking back over the past 35 years, the achievements of literature and art have not been commensurate with the country's innovation. "Literature and art have not yet vividly and fully reflected the reality of innovation and international integration. In most fields, there are no or very few outstanding works and works worthy of the demands of the nation and the times; they have not fulfilled the noble mission of being the torch of humanity, the torch of intelligence and culture to light the way and guide the social community in creating healthy and progressive values ​​and lifestyles...", musician Do Hong Quan frankly said.

Besides, the country's literature and arts have shown confusion, bewilderment and passivity in the process of international integration, not proactively and selectively absorbing the quintessence of human culture to enrich the cultural life of the people, strengthen the "cultural antibodies" of the nation, causing the absorption of foreign cultural influences to fall into chaos.

Artists also pointed out the objective and subjective causes of the above situation. One of the manifestations is that young people are more interested in watching Korean movies and listening to Korean music than Vietnamese movies and music; prefer reading Japanese comics to Vietnamese fairy tales; turn on the TV at any time and see more foreign movies and music than Vietnamese movies and music; go to big cities and see buildings and shopping areas with foreign names that are difficult to read, understand, and remember... Besides, investment resources for cultural development in general, and for literature and art in particular, are still very low. Regeneration resources for reinvestment from the cultural development itself, brought about by the development of the cultural industry, are also very limited.

“It is clear that the majority of the artists are still passive and lack aspiration, not committed and have not kept up with the changes in reality in the country and in the world . Talents, initiatives, passionate and daring creations originating from our own team are still very lacking…”, musician Do Hong Quan emphasized.

People's Artist Trinh Thuy Mui, President of the Vietnam Stage Artists Association, stated that the young team of creative writers and artists with professional qualifications, practical experience, rich life experience, and good skills are still lacking and are being disrupted in terms of succession. Currently, the creative team of stage artists is mainly trained domestically, lacking the conditions to access the quintessence of world literature and art... "Is that why literature and art in general and stage art in particular are scarce and it is difficult to find outstanding talents in the creative team like before. Stage art in particular shows a serious shortage of young, talented authors and directors...", Ms. Mui shared.

In the field of fine arts, Associate Professor, Doctor, critic Bui Thi Thanh Mai (Vietnam National Institute of Culture and Arts) stated that the advantages of globalization have helped Vietnamese artists quickly access world postmodern art. However, besides that, the thinking habits of most artists hinder the reception of philosophical ideas and art theories that are the premise for creative breakthroughs. Vietnamese fine arts still have many shortcomings in terms of professionalism and creative exploration to create works with high ideological content and quality for the country's historical issues, and there have not been many discoveries about visual language and materials, exploitation of themes, aesthetics and expressiveness.

Unleash your creative potential

Implementing the Cultural Development Strategy to 2030, the field of literature and arts has many particularly important "missions", in which the creative potential of artists needs to be awakened and promoted.

Associate Professor, Dr. Bui Thi Thanh Mai believes that in the solutions for developing Vietnamese fine arts, in addition to solutions on mechanisms and policies, the most important are creative human resources, the fine arts market, and promoting and connecting Vietnamese fine arts with the international community.

The Vietnam Cinema Association also emphasized the solution to unleash the creative potential of artists and filmmakers, contributing to preserving and developing the national cultural identity and literature and art. Accordingly, the Cinema Association believes that it is necessary to improve the quality of creation and the effectiveness of creative support activities in the direction of increasing professionalism, gradually eliminating amateur elements, and taking the quality of works as a measure of the effectiveness of creative activities.

Analyzing the causes leading to the limitations in the development of culture in general and literature and art in particular, according to musician Do Hong Quan, regarding the mechanism of investment and development of resources, there needs to be fundamental and comprehensive innovation. Accordingly, it is necessary to prioritize investment to develop the team and organization, incubate and nurture talents. In addition, priority should also be given to investment in developing training sectors and arts that cannot adapt or are difficult to adapt to the market mechanism, but are extremely necessary for the development of the entire field, at the same time to preserve the national cultural identity, such as theoretical criticism research, academic arts, traditional art forms that need "urgent protection"...

In addition, the Vietnam Union of Literature and Arts Associations also made proposals and recommendations on caring for the development of the artists. Musician Do Hong Quan expressed: “In the end, all the successes, weaknesses, and failures of the country’s literature and arts today originate from people, from the artists. It must be said right away that the most fundamental factor that makes a person an artist is talent and aptitude. Without this factor, it is absolutely impossible to become an artist, that is why artists have always been considered “rare” in the world…”.

More than 80 years ago, poet Xuan Dieu wrote: "Food and clothing are no joke to poets". Today, living in a market economy , food and clothing are not only a "joke" but also sometimes a very cruel "joke", and a truly cruel joke to artists. Artists and writers call for investment not only to pay off the "debt of food and clothing", but today they also need to know how to use those investment sources to make them grow and generate profits for reinvestment by proactively and actively participating in the development of cultural industries and services, in accordance with the spirit of the Resolution of the 13th National Party Congress...

(Chairman of the Vietnam Union of Literature and Arts Associations DO HONG QUAN)

Source: https://bvhttdl.gov.vn/trien-khai-chien-luoc-phat-trien-van-hoa-den-nam-2030khoi-day-tiem-nang-sang-tao-cua-van-nghe-si-20211210161649561.htm