The glamour of Vietnam’s performing arts conceals a harsher reality of injuries, low remuneration and copyright gaps that have left many artists struggling to make a living.
Editor’s note: Behind the glamour of the stage lie sweat, tears and the daily struggle to make ends meet for many artists, constrained by an outdated, one-size-fits-all remuneration system. Seeking to remove these barriers, Decree 287/2026/ND-CP introduces a significant new mechanism for “incentive royalties,” allowing creators to receive up to 10% of the profits generated by their own works.
To offer a broader perspective on this legal turning point, VietNamNet presents the series New royalty mechanisms for the arts - Breaking barriers to let creativity flourish, examining the opportunities and challenges involved in bringing Vietnam’s performing arts firmly into the orbit of the cultural industries.
Performing arts are the product of collective creativity, bringing together choreographers, directors, musicians and every performer who walks onto the stage. Yet behind the applause and brilliant lights, many artists continue to struggle to earn a living.
Under Decree 21/2015/ND-CP, remuneration funded by the state budget has long followed a largely standardized approach. The sweat spilled on a circus rehearsal floor, or the immense intellectual and creative effort required to produce a major ballet, opera or symphony, has for years seemed inadequately reflected in what artists are paid.
Blood spilled on the rehearsal floor
Known as the “prince of ballet,” dancer Dam Han Giang studied abroad and graduated from the Hong Kong Academy in 2008 before returning to Vietnam to pursue his artistic career.
Giang is one of the relatively few Vietnamese performers to have established a prominent career in ballet. In 2016, he became one of the youngest artists in Vietnam to receive the title of Meritorious Artist. He previously performed as a soloist with the Vietnam National Opera and Ballet and now works at the Vietnam Dance Academy.
Meritorious Artist Dam Han Giang teaches dance students.
Despite finding success at a young age, Giang says the profession has never been easy.
“Injuries are part of everyday life. A ballet dancer’s career is very short. Once you are past 30, your bones and joints begin to protest. We pour our youth into this profession, paying in blood and tears to bring the finest works to audiences,” he said.
Meritorious Artist Lo Thuy has a similar story. She began training in circus arts at the age of 11 and has since won numerous domestic and international awards.
Yet the physical demands of classical and highly specialized performing arts appear strikingly disproportionate to the remuneration artists receive.
Under rehearsal and performance allowances prescribed by older regulations, the payment for a principal dancer or an aerial circus performer could sometimes amount to only tens of thousands of Vietnamese dong per performance.
Such an amount may not even cover a single physical therapy session needed for muscle recovery, let alone allow artists to restore their physical strength or support their families.
The realities of circus performance are even more unforgiving.
Ballet dancers can repeatedly bleed or develop calluses on their toes as they train to dance en pointe.
People’s Artist Tong Toan Thang, Director of the Vietnam Circus Federation, said circus, ballet and certain traditional performing arts have one defining characteristic: there is effectively no such thing as a low-intensity rehearsal once performers are on stage.
“From technique to choreography, everything has to be performed for real,” he said.
“A singer rehearsing on stage may simply run through a program to check the sound and lighting. For a circus artist, however, the physical effort required during a run-through is almost the same as for an actual performance. Under the old decree, the allowance of VND200,000 (about US$7.70) per performance and VND80,000 (US$3.10) per rehearsal is extremely low compared with today’s living standards.
Circus is an art built around risk. When someone is swinging dozens of meters above the ground, a single slip can cost them their life or leave them permanently disabled,” he said.
Performing arts, particularly classical disciplines such as symphony, opera and ballet, as well as physically demanding forms such as circus, cannot be mass-produced or created for quick returns in the same way as some commercial entertainment products.
A major production can take a long time to develop, consuming enormous amounts of creative energy and physical effort. Yet when payments are calculated, standardized remuneration rules can flatten those differences, leaving those who contribute the most feeling that their sacrifices are not adequately recognized.
Decree 21/2015: A framework that became too restrictive
Performing arts such as circus and ballet leave little room for “practice runs” on stage, as performers must execute demanding movements at full intensity. Photo: Vietnam Circus Federation
The shortcomings in artist remuneration have not necessarily arisen because arts organizations deliberately underpay performers. Much of the problem stems from constraints within the legal framework.
For more than a decade, Decree 21/2015/ND-CP, governing royalties and remuneration for cinematographic, fine art, photographic, theatrical and other performing arts works, served its purpose. But the sector has increasingly outgrown the framework.
According to Tong Toan Thang, securing sufficient funding to bring talented professionals into major productions has long been a difficult task because state-run institutions are bound by prescribed spending limits.
“We are a public institution, so every expense has to comply with state budget norms,” he said. “There are talented directors and outstanding choreographers from outside whom we would like to invite to stage major productions. But when we present the remuneration available under Decree 21, they immediately decline because it is simply too low.
“For artists on our payroll, there are people playing supporting roles who nevertheless rehearse and perform extremely difficult and demanding routines. Even if we want to reward them or pay them more, we cannot exceed the budget ceiling.
Private companies and major event organizers, meanwhile, have enough money to hire well-known names. That creates an uneven competitive environment,” he said.
Royalty and remuneration frameworks have traditionally been divided into categories, with payments calculated as percentages of Vietnam’s statutory base salary. Although the base salary has increased over the years, the percentage-based limits have remained a major constraint as the arts market has evolved.
A production may receive several billion dong in state investment, yet payments for the scriptwriter, director and hundreds of participating performers can still be confined within relatively modest ceilings.
The consequences have become increasingly visible. Public arts institutions are finding it harder to retain talent.
Accomplished and well-known artists are often forced to maintain one foot inside public institutions and another in the commercial market, taking outside performances to supplement their incomes. That, in turn, makes it more difficult for them to devote themselves fully to high-level artistic work within state institutions.
The frustrations of stage artists extend beyond the small payment slip received after each performance. There are also significant gaps in the protection of copyright and related rights.
In the digital era, a theatrical work no longer exists solely within the walls of a theater. It can be filmed and broadcast on television, or cut into countless short videos circulated across YouTube, TikTok and Facebook.
Yet the distribution of benefits among those involved - scriptwriters, directors, choreographers, performers and musicians - has often remained unclear.
Derivative works in the performing arts have also generated controversy.
A stage script may inspire someone else to create a sitcom, while an independent dance work may be adapted and reworked by local performing troupes before being distributed on digital platforms. Such practices can directly affect the economic rights of the original creators.
Performers, despite being on the front line in bringing artistic works to audiences, are often in a weak position when negotiating contracts.
Because personal relationships and informal understandings remain important in the profession, many stage artists still sign contracts that provide only a one-off performance fee. They have neither developed the habit nor always had an effective mechanism to seek royalties when their image, voice or performance is subsequently rebroadcast or distributed on other platforms.
The tears shed behind the curtain, the financial struggles of public theaters and gaps in copyright enforcement have together become a major obstacle to the development of Vietnam’s cultural industries.
The introduction of Decree 287/2026/ND-CP is now expected to change how state-run arts organizations operate, with one of its most notable provisions being a new mechanism for “incentive royalties.”
Vietnamnet.vn
Podcast
.svg){kind=icon}
