Việt Nam: OVERVIEW: Arts festivals

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OVERVIEW:

Introduction

Traditional festivals

Arts festivals

Arts festivals in the western sense (generally known as liên hoan) are a fairly recent development in Việt Nam.

The concept was originally introduced during the colonial period for the entertainment of the French settlers, but after 1954 it was continued in the form of periodic reviews of creative developments in particular genres. This concept survives today in the form of events such as the National Fine Art Exhibition (Triển lãm Mỹ thuật Toàn quốc) and the National Theatre Festival (Liên hoan Nghệ thuật Sân khấu Toàn quốc), which are held every five years, and the National Dance Festival (Liên hoan Múa Toàn quốc) and National Film Festival (Liên hoan Điện ảnh Toàn quốc), which are held every two years. At the present time the only annual regular national festival is the National Professional Cải Lương Competition (Hội diễn Sân khấu Cải lương Chuyên nghiệp Toàn quốc), hosted by Trần Hữu Trang Cải Lương Theatre in Hồ Chí Minh City.

Since Việt Nam opened its doors to the world in the late 1980s international festivals have also been developed, but events involving foreign product such as the European Union Jazz Festival (Liên hoan Nhạc Jazz EU), the European Union Film Festival (Liên hoan Phim Châu Âu), the Huế International Sculpture Symposium (Trại Sáng tác Điêu khắc Quốc tế) Huế and the Huế Festival (Liên hoan Huế) remain heavily dependent on the continued availability of overseas funding.

For useful information on the logistics of presenting overseas work in Việt Nam please see the International cultural exchange section.

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