People’s Artist Vuong Duy Bien, Chairman of Vietnam Cultural Industry Development Association: Cultural industry to benefit the nation

“Culture not only ignites national pride but also promotes the image of Vietnam globally, advances integration in the era of globalization, and makes a major contribution to the nation.” This was the remark of People’s Artist Vuong Duy Bien, Chairman of the Vietnam Cultural Industry Development Association (VCIDA) at the press conference and strategic partnership signing event held in Ho Chi Minh City on September 13. On the occasion, Saigon New Day spoke with Mr. Vuong Duy Bien on the topic.

What is the vision and role of the Vietnam Cultural Industry Development Association?

The Vietnam Cultural Industry Development Association (VCIDA) was established under Decision No. 541/QĐ-BNV on May 30, 2025. It is a nationwide socio-professional organization that brings together institutions and individuals from culture, creativity, technology, education, business, and investment. Its mission is to connect resources, promote market growth, and foster a vibrant cultural industry ecosystem.

The founding of VCIDA aims to drive the industry’s development, build a creative economy, and preserve national cultural identity amid an era of deepening international integration.

VCIDA aspires to become the nation’s leading organization in driving the development of the cultural industry toward professionalism, creativity, integration, and sustainability. The  three words we have distilled to capture the essence of Vietnam’s cultural industry are: Creativity – Identity – Influence.

VCIDA is expected to gather a wide network of artists, experts, and enterprises across diverse creative fields. With a spirit of solidarity, the Association is committed to accompanying the growth of the cultural industry, fostering creativity, protecting intellectual property rights, and strengthening connections among businesses, localities, and the creative community through clear strategic directions.

In contributing to policy development, VCIDA will play an advisory role by organizing seminars, roundtables, and thematic forums; working with the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism as well as local authorities to host events that help strengthen the legal framework and advance the practical implementation of policies in the cultural industry.

What specific initiatives will VCIDA focus on in the near future?

In the coming time, VCIDA will carry out concrete initiatives such as organizing creative camps, establishing art spaces, developing theater, film, and music productions, and hosting festivals, aiming to shape a healthy art market that meets the diverse cultural needs of a rapidly evolving society.

With a vision of comprehensive development, VCIDA will also strengthen its organizational structure; establish codes of professional ethics and internal regulations; expand its membership system; accelerate digital transformation; and develop a network of representative offices across regions nationwide.
In terms of trade promotion, VCIDA will organize exhibitions, fairs, and creative festivals across different cultural industry sectors; support members in trademark registration, market access, sponsorship, and investment connections; and enhance the use of digital platforms to distribute creative products.

VCIDA is positioned as a key organization and a strategic bridge linking artists, businesses, experts, government agencies, and investors across the entire cultural industry ecosystem. As a newly established association, we will operate in line with the needs of localities. Vietnam is home to deltas, border regions, islands, and 54 ethnic groups with rich cultural traditions—whereas many countries in the world have only one ethnicity and one script. Therefore, it is essential for us to study and explore each locality’s identity in order to uncover the unique characteristics of every region.

We strive to host events aligned with national festivals and collaborate with localities to organize 34 art festivals in 34 provinces and cities.

We will focus on education and high-quality human resource training, supporting creative start-up. VCIDA’s regular training programs will focus on key areas such as cultural enterprise management, intellectual property, digital transformation, and creative technologies. The Association will also develop creative incubator models and work with educational institutions and localities to design region-specific training programs. The goal is to ensure that professionals not only create cultural products that serve society, but also, in the true sense of “industry,” approach their work with greater scale, depth, and professionalism.

Could you tell Saigon New Day readers about VCIDA’s international cooperation programs?

In the field of international integration, VCIDA aims to collaborate with government agencies, businesses, and localities to organize Vietnam Culture Weeks in major markets such as ASEAN, South Korea, the EU, Russia, the United States, India, China, and Japan. These initiatives will help bring the image of Vietnam and its people to the world through distinctive cultural products.

Specifically, these activities will include exhibitions and performances showcasing Vietnamese artworks that are much loved by overseas communities and international audiences—such as plays and water puppetry, which have been invited to stages in European countries like France, Germany, and the Netherlands, as well as in Asian nations including South Korea and Japan. We will also work with international partners to plan exhibitions of Vietnamese cultural products—for example, with the Museum of Oriental Art in Russia, which houses an extensive collection of renowned Vietnamese paintings.

Another example is the Nguyen Hue Flower Street in Ho Chi Minh City, which has long been well known. We hope to make it an annual street festival and invite international participation.

What outcomes do you expect from VCIDA?

In my view, the establishment of VCIDA comes at just the right time—had it been earlier, we might not have known what to do, but had it been later, we would have missed important opportunities. Under the recent administrative restructuring initiative, our country officially consists of 34 provinces and centrally-run cities, and this streamlining will help condense cultural and artistic spaces, making practices more professional and products of higher quality.

The formation of VCIDA aligns with the country’s development trajectory when the cultural industry is gradually affirming its role—turning culture into a distinctive product that generates economic value while promoting the image of Vietnam, including its culture and people, to the world.

Our greatest aspiration is to develop culture in line with the approved vision. With key policies creating favorable conditions for private enterprises to grow, and opening up opportunities for artists, agencies, and creators to join forces, I believe the cultural industry will make a significant contribution to the nation in the years ahead.

How do you assess today’s young generation working in culture and the arts?

The youth are dynamic, quick to seize opportunities, adept at applying technology, and richly creative. Recently, they have produced films and organized major cultural and artistic events that have resonated with young audiences at home and abroad. We believe that building on this momentum, they will join with other “key players” to further advance the cultural industry in the future.

Thank you for your sharing.

According to Saigon New Day

Keywords : Nghệ sĩ Nhân dân Vương Duy Biên, Chủ tịch, Hiệp hội phát triển Công nghiệp Văn hóa Việt Nam, Công nghiệp văn hóa