Formally set up in 1957 on the basis of the earlier revolutionary Việt Nam Literature and Arts Association (Hội Văn nghệ Việt Nam, established 1948), the Việt Nam Union of Literature and Arts Associations is controlled a National Committee (Ủy ban Toàn quốc Liên hiệp các Hội Văn học Nghệ thuật Việt Nam), which operates under the guidance of the National Ideology and Culture Committee (Ban Tư tưởng Văn hóa Trung Ương) as a national umbrella organisation for cultural development. It publishes the Diễn đàn Văn nghệ Việt Nam (Literature and Arts Forum) Magazine, runs its own research centre and manages the Việt Nam Fund for Supporting Literary and Artistic Creativity (VIFOLAC). Ten national cultural associations and a further 60 Municipal and Provincial Literature and Arts Associations from all over the country are members of the Union: