Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Nguyen Van Hung

This was the question raised by Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Nguyen Van Hung at a forum on "The impact of the Covid-19 pandemic and the drastic actions by the culture, sports and tourism sector".

Le Minh Tuan, Deputy Head of the Department of Performing Arts, said the pandemic has become so serious that it has gone beyond a traditional crisis. It has posed challenges to the performing arts.

However, the agency has changed the way of thinking and approach in performing art works. It has encouraged art troupes across the country to arrange and perform art programs with attractive content, eye-catching design and reasonable duration on technological platforms, such as YouTube and other social networks to attract a large audience.

The head of the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism (MCST) recognized the great efforts of the department in organizing art programs online, which "provide spiritual vaccines in epicenters to enrich the spiritual life and alleviate the loneliness".

However, Hung said thus has not been done widely with the over 100 art groups throughout the country.

“A YouTuber can make money if he or she has over 1 million followers. Can theatres and art groups do this?” he said. He asked the Department of Performing Arts to find solutions for art groups to make money via social networks.

Tuan said the department is striving to develop websites and online broadcasting channels, and collect fees from performance programs.

Regarding the Department of Heritage, Minister Hung said museums are one of the three necessary cultural institutions and every province needs to have a museum. However, they don't exist in many localities. He asked Director of the Department of Heritage Le Thi Thu Hien to offer suggestions to solve the problem.

The Hanoi Museum was built with large investments, but has yet to open for over 12 years.

Hung said the pandemic has had a serious impact on every sector. The culture, sports and tourism sector has been facing ‘four no's’ – no art programs organized; no big sports events; no tourism market and no international tourism; and no art activities on a large scale.

Mentioning digital transformation, Hung said the sector is still having difficulties in workforce, technology and resources. He admitted that the sector lacks officers with deep knowledge about information technology (IT). 

Tinh Le

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