A workshop on art funding was held in Hanoi on April 23 and 24 to seek for effective ways of the sponsorships as well as development of culture and art of Vietnam.

This ceramic mural painting in Hanoi has recently been completed with the financial assistance from Denmark.

According to the organiser, the workshop was organised to provide a chance for dialogue, discussion and experience sharing between policy makers, managers and researcher in the field of both Vietnam and Denmark in the current situation of globalisation. The workshop, therefore, created a foundation for Vietnamese policy makers to set up policies to assist the development of culture and art.

In his opening speech on April 23, Danish Ambassador Peter Lysholt Hansen said this is a good opportunity for experts from both countries to share their experiences and discuss the best ways of raising capital to develop the arts in Vietnam. He expressed hope that the workshop will come up with suggestions for policies and mechanisms needed to support Vietnam’s cultural and artistic development.

A consultant form Denmark’s International Cultural Development Agency Olaf Gerlach Hansen made a speech on forms of funding for art in three levels: the world, the Europe and Denmark in which he highlighted the role and function of art council and the relations between council with government offices.

The workshop also heard the speech made by expert Nguyen Ngoc Lam who was former head of Vietnam’s Department of NGOs on the role of people’s organisations in developing culture and arts in Vietnam. Dr Nguyen Danh Nga, deputy head of the MCST’s Department of Planning and Finance gave his idea on the current financial mechanism in culture and arts in Vietnam.

The two-day workshop attracted the participation of leaders from the MCST, representatives from cultural organisations and art associations, NGOs, cultural experts, lecturers and artists from both countries.

This is part of activities being carried out under a five-year project entitled ‘Dialogue between Cultural Policymakers and Cultural Thinkers’ funded by the Danish government. In which, the first workshop was held in 2007 with the theme ‘Cultural Identity and Diversity.”

VietNamNet/ND