A predilection for art patronage is not something that future Vietnamese businessmen pick up while they are in school.
In many countries, art sponsorship is not only a way businessmen show their social responsibility, but also a cultural habit, and even a way to show-off their positions. This habit is encouraged by the law. Art patronage is clearly separated from advertising sponsorship, which enjoys tax incentives.
In Vietnam, music shows have been booming in recent years with the sponsorship of corporations. These sponsors generously invest in art shows as one way to advertise their products. But sponsorship in these instances is sometimes wanting.
Meanwhile, the country doesn’t promote art sponsorship foundations. Due to lack of social support and assistance from businesses, Vietnamese artists face difficulties in the creation and distribution of their artworks.
It has been suggested that big groups and corporations like Vietnam Airlines, Vinashin, PetroVietnam, VNPT or FPT set up cultural foundations to sponsor contemporary arts and other kinds of arts.
Their sponsorship of artists could also entail technical and media assistance, purchasing artworks for display at offices, hiring artists to design logos and new works, etc.
In the US, there were 62,000 cultural, social and art sponsor foundations in 2006 and they raised $3.6 billion. At the same time, France had 2,100 foundations, the UK 8,800 and Italy 3,300 foundations of this kind. Contemporary art centres like Foundation Cartier, La Maison Rouge, and cultural foundations of France Telecom, RATP are very well-known in France.
Meanwhile, the development of arts in Vietnam is progressing much slower than in some other regional countries.
While local businesses don’t pay attention to art sponsorship activities, many unique cultural shows have been organised by foreign embassies, non-governmental organisations and foreign companies in Vietnam.
In 2008, art shows like the European Music Festial, Germany-Vietnam Hip-hop Dance, Jazz Vocal’s shows, performances by some western symphonies and artists in Hanoi and HCM City, film weeks of France, the UK, Japan, South Korea, short film festivals, workshops and talks about books, fashion design contests, etc. brought about wonderful moments for Vietnamese audiences.
These programmes were held for free and were organised very well. Artists invited to these shows were the most famous in their fields. The films introduced were the best ones.
Patricia Norland from the US Consulate General in HCM City said cultural exchange and sponsorship activities are organised to bring opportunities for both sides to know and understand each other and create new sources of inspiration for artists.
The former Deputy Director of the HCM City Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism, Nguyen The Thanh, said: “Cultural patronage is not simply providing money to cultural programmes but includes other jobs like putting forth new ideas, setting directions and licencing cultural projects."
How would the development of the arts gone without the Medicis, who were sponsors of Michelangelo, or without King Louis XIV of France, Russian Queen Catherine or other families like the Rothschilds, Rockefellers, and billionaires Andrew Carnegie and Peggy Guggenheim?
Current famous sponsors of art and culture in the world are Charles Saatchi (UK), Francois Pinault, Yves Saint Laurent (France). They have strongly influenced the development of the contemporary arts.
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