The talk: Shouldering a cultural and creative organisation – Walking in a pink dream taking place on December 03 heated up the auditorium on a cold, rainy morning with valuable discussions that opened up numerous questions for dialogue.
Guest speakers of the talk included Ariel Phạm – Art Collector, Founder and CEO of The Outpost Art Organisation, Dr Lê Xuân Kiêu – Director of the Centre for Cultural and Scientific Activities, Temple of Literature, Nguyễn Hoàng Phương – Director of TPD Centre for the Development of Movie Talents, Vũ Khánh Tùng – Director of Bat Trang Museum of Viet Soul Art, and the moderator was journalist Trương Uyên Ly – Director of HanoiGrapevine.
Location Vietnamese Women’s Museum, No. 36 Ly Thuong Kiet, Hoan Kiem, Hanoi
Date & time 10-12 PM – 03/12/2022
In the first half of the talk, the guest speakers took turns sharing the nature, goals and vision of the cultural and creative organisation they are steering. The diversity in their models – private and public, traditional and contemporary, physical and virtual… provided the audience with an overview of cultural organisations in Vietnam.
The speakers came from different professional backgrounds but shared the same passion for arts and culture. They all encountered difficulties in the initial stage of building or taking charge of their organisation, facing challenges in financial management, operations, human resources, maintaining internal and external activities and more in order to lead and move forward in unity. Each step, each change, each transformation was traded off with failures, financial resources and numerous difficult decisions. It was a lesson in financial management for The Outpost, a challenge of self-renewal for the Temple of Literature, a problem of sustaining finances after an important funding source ran dry for TPD, the continuity and new creation from heritage for Bat Trang Museum of Viet Soul Art, and painful decisions to survive with its ideal for HanoiGrapevine.
There is no universal formula that fits any cultural and creative organisation. Each leader learns and adjusts through experiences with their organisation. Behind every artistic “pink dream” are tremendous amounts of sweat, effort, and silent sacrifices of the leaders and their teams. Despite the challenges, they always keep their faith and bravely move forward with their love for the arts and an optimistic spirit.
