Building practical policies and resources for the development of cultural and sports institutions

(Chinhphu.vn) - On the morning of May 12th, in Quang Ninh, the National Assembly's Committee on Culture and Education, in coordination with the Ho Chi Minh National Political Academy, the Central Propaganda Department, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, and the Quang Ninh Provincial People's Committee, organized the 2024 Culture Conference with the theme "Policies and Resources for the Development of Cultural and Sports Institutions".

The 2024 Culture Conference, themed "Policies and Resources for the Development of Cultural and Sports Institutions" - Photo: VGP/Diep Anh

The workshop was chaired by comrades: Tran Thanh Man, Politburo member, Permanent Vice Chairman of the National Assembly; Nguyen Xuan Thang, Politburo member, Director of the Ho Chi Minh National Academy of Politics, Chairman of the Central Theoretical Council; Tran Hong Ha, Party Central Committee member, Deputy Prime Minister; Nguyen Dac Vinh, Party Central Committee member, member of the National Assembly Standing Committee, Chairman of the National Assembly's Committee for Culture and Education ; Nguyen Van Hung, Party Central Committee member, Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism; Nguyen Xuan Ky, Party Central Committee member, Provincial Party Secretary, Chairman of the People's Council of Quang Ninh province.

The workshop was attended by nearly 300 delegates, including members of the Central Committee of the Party, members of the Standing Committee of the National Assembly; National Assembly delegates, representatives of the National Council and Committees of the National Assembly, agencies under the Standing Committee of the National Assembly; representatives of central ministries, departments, and organizations; representatives of the People's Committees and National Assembly delegations of provinces and cities; representatives of the management agencies of cultural and sports institutions at the central and grassroots levels; experts, scientists, and managers; and representatives of several associations and businesses operating in the field of culture and sports.

Comrade Nguyen Dac Vinh, Chairman of the National Assembly's Committee on Culture and Education, delivered the opening remarks at the seminar - Photo: mediaquochoi

The workshop "Policies and resources for the development of cultural and sports institutions" addresses a very important and current issue, aiming to concretize and implement the Party's major policies on cultural and sports development, especially the Resolution of the 13th National Party Congress, contributing to the drafting of documents to be submitted to the 14th National Party Congress; providing scientific arguments to serve the process of law-making and supervision of law implementation by the National Assembly in a very important field that needs to be prioritized for development but still faces many difficulties, obstacles and shortcomings.

In his opening remarks at the workshop, Comrade Nguyen Dac Vinh, Chairman of the National Assembly's Committee on Culture and Education, emphasized that the workshop aims to comprehensively review and evaluate the institutionalization and implementation of the Party's guidelines and resolutions, and the State's policies and laws on the development of cultural and sports institutions; the planning, investment, construction, management, and use of cultural and sports institutions; and the allocation and mobilization of resources for cultural and sports institutions.

From there, propose solutions to perfect institutions and policies to develop the institutional system, serve the needs of the majority of people, meet the requirements of comprehensive human development and build an advanced Vietnamese culture imbued with national identity in the spirit of the Resolution of the 13th National Party Congress.

In particular, the workshop will provide additional political, theoretical, scientific, and practical grounds for the National Assembly to discuss and give opinions on the investment policy for the National Target Program on Cultural Development for the period 2025-2035 at the upcoming 7th Session of the 15th National Assembly.

Comrade Nguyen Xuan Thang, Director of the Ho Chi Minh National Political Academy and Chairman of the Central Theoretical Council, delivered the opening remarks at the seminar - Photo: mediaquochoi

In his opening speech at the workshop, comrade Nguyen Xuan Thang - Director of the Ho Chi Minh National Academy of Politics, Chairman of the Central Theoretical Council emphasized that after nearly 40 years of implementing the renovation process, from poor, backward cultural and sports institutions, many times and places forgotten, operating in a closed, isolated, disconnected, and even far from the original goal, we have built and developed a relatively comprehensive and synchronous system of cultural and sports institutions, covering a wide area from the central to the grassroots, from urban areas to rural areas, remote areas, and island border areas.

Libraries, cultural and artistic exhibition centers, performing arts centers, museums, cinemas, theaters, sports training centers, stadiums, gymnasiums, sports fields, etc., have received significant investment and construction, becoming increasingly modern throughout the country; and are continuing to be upgraded to more modern facilities, with some approaching international standards.

The forms of operation of cultural and sports institutions are increasingly rich and diverse, both popular throughout the country and suitable to the characteristics and development conditions of each region and locality; initially meeting the needs of all classes of people, contributing to improving cultural life, building a healthy cultural and sports environment and improving the quality of life of the people.

New cultural and sports facilities contribute to creating a developed landscape that is both modern and reflects the unique identity of each locality, contributing to the distinctive appearance of the new urban and rural architectural spaces. Along with the country's integration and development, these areas have become spaces for cultural and sports industries operating within a market economy; breeding grounds for creative ideas, performing talents, and high-achieving competitions; venues for cultural exchange events, cultural and artistic performances, sports events, and socio-political events, contributing to fostering, promoting, and spreading Vietnam's soft power on the international stage.

According to comrade Nguyen Xuan Thang, these important achievements were achieved first of all thanks to our Party's awareness of building and developing culture and sports, which has been gradually supplemented, developed and increasingly perfected, comprehensive and profound; in particular, it has been closely linked to the viewpoint and goal of building Vietnamese people to develop harmoniously and comprehensively, taking people as the center of development; as a basis for promulgating and organizing the implementation of State policies and laws on developing culture and sports; solving issues related to planning, investment in building facilities, equipment, operating costs, organizational apparatus, and personnel of cultural and sports institutions.

However, comrade Nguyen Xuan Thang also pointed out that, in addition to the remarkable results, the operation of the current cultural and sports institutions system is revealing many limitations and inadequacies; there are paradoxes, difficulties and long-standing problems that have not been overcome: In recent years, despite many efforts, investment funds to develop cultural and sports institutions are still very limited, carried out in a "drop by drop" manner; while many cultural and sports institutions have outdated facilities and technical equipment, and limited land funds, not meeting requirements; there are still a number of cultural and sports institutions that, despite having been invested in very expensively, operate ineffectively, even "abandoned", causing great waste.

Many theaters, training grounds and sports stadiums have been invested in quite modernly, but due to ineffective operation, they have quickly deteriorated and almost had to close, with little time to "switch on"; operating budgets for cultural and sports institutions are generally very limited, many facilities only have enough to operate at a moderate level.

The operating apparatus of cultural and sports institutions is ineffective; both professional and managerial human resources have not met the requirements of the tasks. Salaries and benefits for staff working at cultural and sports institutions are not satisfactory. Guidance and organization of activities at grassroots cultural and sports institutions are not given due importance, lacking initiative and creativity.

In fact, the Party's policy on paying attention to investing in the development of cultural and sports institutions is clear, especially the policies on harmoniously handling the relationship between conservation and development; synchronously developing types of cultural and sports institutions; innovating the content and methods of managing the activities of cultural and sports institutions from the central to grassroots levels; promoting the development of cultural industry, cultural services and sports economic fields in accordance with the market mechanism...

However, when it comes to implementation, many localities and units still don't know where to start or how to proceed. Numerous policies and legal regulations remain largely general guidelines, lacking sufficient detail, leading to a " каждый за себя" (everyone for themselves) approach, both in resource allocation and operational organization.

Some aspects and forms of activity of cultural and sports institutions are still not regulated by legal documents; meanwhile, the policies that have been issued lack coherence and consistency. Policy formulation also fails to adequately address the specific characteristics of certain cultural and sports fields, such as elite and scholarly culture and high-performance sports.

Some regulations on the organization, operation and criteria of cultural and sports institutions are not suitable to reality. This makes many cultural and sports institutions, especially in the field of traditional culture and sports, really encounter difficulties and confusion in the process of moving towards financial autonomy, having to make do with each other, even "circumventing the law" in mobilizing and allocating resources and organizing many artistic and performing activities.

Delegates attending the Workshop - Photo: mediaquochoi

To contribute to resolving difficulties and obstacles in laws, mechanisms and policies, especially those related to mobilizing and effectively allocating resources for the development of cultural and sports institutions to meet new requirements, comrade Nguyen Xuan Thang suggested that the Workshop focus on analyzing and deepening the main contents such as: Perfecting the legal system, mechanisms and policies; effectively organizing the implementation of the content on the development of cultural and sports institutions in the master plan; innovating the management, use and effective exploitation of cultural and sports institutions; strengthening the mobilization of resources, investing in facilities and equipment for cultural and sports institutions; organizing the apparatus, personnel and human resource training...

At the conference, delegates, experts, and scientists will exchange ideas, discuss, and make practical recommendations and proposals to the Party, the National Assembly, the Government, central ministries and agencies, and localities in the development and implementation of policies, guidelines, laws, and mechanisms to promote the development of the country's culture and sports in the new period.

Diep Anh - Government Portal

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