While the infrastructure of some provincial cultural works in Hai Duong is degraded, even existing only in people's memories, there are still no new works to replace them.
The Hai Duong Provincial Cultural and Art Center alone has 5 working offices in Hai Duong City: the Film Distribution and Screening Center at 28 Ho Chi Minh Avenue (Thong Nhat Cinema), the conference hall at 8 Hong Quang Street, the People's Theater at 6A Do Luong, the exhibition hall at 109 Pham Ngu Lao Street and the newly built Dong Xu Cultural Center.
Except for the Eastern Cultural Center, the remaining locations are all in prime locations in the center of Hai Duong City, but some are abandoned, while others are still in operation but have seriously degraded infrastructure and are operating inefficiently. This is a huge waste of land use in the middle of the city.
Notably, according to a report by the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism of Hai Duong province, the two headquarters of the Hai Duong Provincial Cultural and Arts Center, the theater and cinema, have been seriously degraded, unusable, and unable to meet the needs of the people for many years.
Some remaining provincial cultural institutions in Hai Duong are also degraded. Although Hai Duong Cheo Theater has invested in building a relatively synchronous infrastructure (with a hall and small stage), it can partially meet the training needs but cannot meet the task of organizing performances to serve the political tasks of the province and the enjoyment needs of the people.
Hai Duong Provincial Museum has been in operation since 1990 and is preserving 50,477 documents and artifacts, including many rare collections. In recent years, although the province has invested in upgrading and repairing many facilities, some remaining facilities have seriously degraded, failing to meet the museum's needs for preserving and displaying artifacts. The provincial library is also struggling due to a lack of facilities for digital transformation.
While some old institutions are abandoned, degraded or ineffective, according to the monitoring report of the Provincial People's Council's Culture and Social Affairs Committee, Hai Duong still lacks some provincial-level cultural institutions such as stadiums, cinemas, etc. Equipment in some institutions is lacking, broken, and not synchronized. Cultural and sports institutions serving youth, children, workers and laborers are also lacking.
At the 23rd session of the 17th Hai Duong Provincial People's Council, held from July 11 to 12, when speaking at the meeting hall, Comrade Nguyen Thanh Trung, Provincial Party Committee member, Director of the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism, pointed out many limitations in the material facilities of provincial cultural institutions. Comrade Nguyen Thanh Trung proposed to renovate, upgrade and expand the campus of Hai Duong Provincial Museum; soon complete the construction of Thong Nhat Cinema and invest in interior equipment and electronic library at the Provincial Library...
"The projects that have been completed and put into use will create a new look for the urban landscape of Hai Duong City, civilized and modern, and the grassroots cultural environment will be enhanced and have practical depth," emphasized comrade Nguyen Thanh Trung.
Regarding the socialization of investment in institutions, comrade Nguyen Thanh Trung said that the construction of Thong Nhat cinema at 28 Ho Chi Minh Avenue from socialized resources will soon be implemented to gradually complete the system of provincial cultural institutions, meeting practical requirements. In the coming time, it is necessary to promote socialization, attract investment resources from the private sector and the people, and economic sectors to participate in building facilities and exploiting activities at institutions. At the same time, promptly remove difficulties in mechanisms and obstacles in receiving socialized resources.
Talking to reporters of Hai Duong Newspaper about the shortcomings and limitations in the infrastructure of abandoned projects and projects that are being exploited ineffectively, comrade Nguyen Thanh Trung said that the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism is reviewing and evaluating the operational efficiency of the units and will have the results on August 15. A number of projects are also being considered for inclusion in the list of public investment projects of the province.
Voters and people of Hai Duong expect a transformation, a clear change to have new cultural institutions to replace the institutions that have been or are "gradually dying". The role of the agencies managing these institutions is very important in orienting and innovating activities to effectively exploit and promote the existing potential of provincial cultural institutions.
The dynamism and innovation of Hai Duong Provincial Museum recently is a testament to its proactive transformation to improve the operational efficiency of cultural institutions.
From a place specializing in research, preservation, and collection, Hai Duong Provincial Museum has now been recognized as a tourist destination, a destination that attracts people inside and outside the province, as well as many foreign visitors who enjoy visiting and experiencing. The theme of Vietnamese Tet space during the subsidy period on the occasion of Tet Giap Thin 2024, in just one month, the Provincial Museum attracted about 12,000 visitors, equal to the total number of visitors in the whole year of 2022. Currently, the museum is also implementing an educational theme on prehistoric history.
According to Ms. Nguyen Thi Hue, Director of Hai Duong Provincial Museum, the unit has proactively innovated and created in a specialized direction.
"First of all, the museum's staff is well-trained and regular. We have 6/19 staff with master's degrees and all of our tuition fees are self-funded. This is an effort to improve the quality of the staff and determine their responsibility for the profession. Although there are still many difficulties in terms of facilities, with the goal of promoting the museum's potential and bringing the museum and history closer to the people, we strive to innovate our activities and have initially seen clear changes," Ms. Hue shared.
The Provincial Museum's approach is worth learning from for other units to "revive" their activities before the risk of being forgotten.
Hai Duong Cheo Theatre is another example. With the advantage of being the "Eastern Cheo" - one of the four famous Cheo theatres around the ancient Thang Long citadel and having many famous artists, the art of Cheo in Hai Duong has not yet received much attention and development. Every year, the Cheo Theatre performs an average of 50 shows, the rate of people attending the performances according to the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism is 85%. The provincial budget provides an average operating cost of more than 8.2 billion VND/year, about 2 times higher than the Provincial Library, Provincial Museum, and Provincial Sports Gymnasium. Many people are anxious and longing to see the Eastern Cheo, but most of them have not had their wishes fulfilled because the art of Cheo has not been brought closer to them.
Dong To Toan in Kinh Duong village, Hiep Cat commune (Nam Sach) has been passionate about Cheo singing since he was a child. He said: "I hope that one day, Hai Duong Cheo Theater and other cultural institutions will innovate their activities to attract young people, exploit potential and preserve and promote the cultural values of my homeland. I also think about one day performing or just watching Cheo singing at Hai Duong Cheo Theater".
During the rehearsal of the play "The Eastern Girl" about the heroine Mac Thi Buoi in Nam Tan commune (Nam Sach), the district and commune rented many cars for officials and people to come and watch. Everyone was happy and excited because nowadays it is rare to go to the theater.
Along with the innovation of operations and investment in projects, architectural works with highlights such as cinemas, monuments, theaters..., cultural institutions also need to be concerned about mechanisms, policies, and supplementing old and outdated equipment for operations such as the sound and lighting systems of the Provincial Cultural and Artistic Center, Cheo Theater; specialized equipment for displaying and preserving documents and artifacts at the Provincial Museum; facilities for digital transformation at the Provincial Library... Thereby contributing to the realization of Program No. 22-CTr/TU dated August 19, 2021 of the Executive Committee of the Hai Duong Provincial Party Committee on "Promoting the cultural values of the Eastern region and building Hai Duong people to meet the development requirements for the period 2021-2025, with a vision to 2030".
After 10 years of implementing Resolution No. 33-NQ/TW dated June 9, 2014 of the 11th Party Central Committee on building and developing Vietnamese culture and people to meet the requirements of sustainable national development, Party committees and authorities from the provincial to grassroots levels have paid attention to leading and directing the implementation, actively contributing to the construction and development of the local socio-economy. The cultural life of the people is increasingly rich, many traditional cultural values of the nation are promoted. The system of cultural and sports institutions from the provincial to grassroots levels has received attention in planning and investment in construction. The whole province has 12 district-level cultural and sports centers; 235 commune-level cultural and sports houses; 1,352 cultural houses, village sports grounds, and residential areas; 1 provincial library and 12 district libraries... Literary and artistic creation activities are given attention, cultural, artistic, mass sports and tourism activities at the grassroots level are encouraged to take place actively and practically, attracting people to participate. From 2014 to early 2024, 314 relics were restored, embellished and prevented from deterioration at different levels with a total cost of more than 3,096 billion VND from budgets at all levels and socialization among the people.
Content:SNOW WIND
Photos, clips:PHONG TUYET, THANH CHUNG, LE ANH
Present:LE ANH