VietNamNet Bridge – Only the artists who have work permits have the right to participate in art performances.

On June 3, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism organized a video conference connecting Hanoi, Da Nang and HCM City to collect comments on the plan to grant work permits to singers and models. The conference had the participation of officials and representatives of the Performing Arts Agency and various agencies and departments involved.

Recently, a lot of violations associated with art performing activities have been reported, such as lip syncing, wearing scanty clothes and making shocking statements. These violations have badly affected the spiritual life of the audience and stirred up public opinion. Therefore, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism said that granting work permits to artists at this moment is reasonable.

The license will apply to all artists, but firstly, singers and models because fashion and music are the two areas with the most cases of violations. To get work permit, artists must meet three conditions on good morals, expertise qualification and not having their work permit revoked before.

The Ministry plans to issue two types of cards. The first is for artists who are trained in the art schools and have titles. The second type is for artists who are not trained but talented and loved by the public.

For the People's Artist, Meritorious Artists or those who are granted titles by the state will naturally have work permits and they do not need to apply for the card like other artists.

The Ministry confirmed that the card of each artist will be used for all shows that they join. The code of the work permit will also coincide with the individual income tax code for easy management.

If any artist breaks the rules, he/she will have their work permits suspended from six months to two years. In case of serious offense, they can be fined up to VND10 million ($500) or their work permits will be revoked forever.

Currently, the Ministry is considering whether it should grant work permits of five years for trained artists and three years for others or granting once and forever cards.

During the meeting that lasted nearly three hours, Mr. Ho Anh Tuan, Deputy Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism said that the practicing certificate is not a certificate of expertise, but it is a tool for state agencies to more easily manage artists. The grant of work permits will also help artists become more aware of improving professional ethics an expertise.

In 1999, the Ministry granted work permits for thousands of artists, but the work permits were annulled in 2002 since there were many problems associated with the cards. The card did not help artists who are members of state organizations, while freelance artists were not licensed.

In the conference, the participants focused on whether the Ministry should grant or should not grant the card, not the duration of the card.

People's Artist Tran Binh said that this scheme is more positive than the previous one. However, the plan only mentions violations of the artists and models, not the mistakes of the show organizers. Binh said that show organizers must be responsible for their mistakes and they are the subject for licensing.

People's Artist Le Ngoc Cuong said that severe punishment must be imposed on the show organizers who break the law. He added that the work permit is unnecessary for trained artists because they have the diplomas granted by their schools.

Some said that the Ministry should grant one kind of card only because being trained or not, all artists must obey the laws.

A show organizer, named Hoang Tuan, said the singers who are members of the Vietnam Musicians’ Association should be granted the cards without considering the three above conditions because their expertise and ethics have been proved by the membership of the musicians’ association.

However, some participants worried of corruption related to the grant of work permit. They suggested that instead of focusing on the grant of work permit, the relevant agencies should concentrate on improving the expertise of artists and the awareness of the audience.

After the consultation meeting on June 3, the Ministry will organize another meeting in July to finalize the project in September and to apply it in October. From 01.01.2014, the Ministry will begin granting practice certification for singers and models.

T. Van