As many as 19 art troupes from 14 countries and international organisations have registered to perform at the Hue Festival 2014, according to the festival’s organisers.

Themed “Cultural heritage with integration and development”, the festival will be held from April 12-20, 2014 with a series of national- and provincial-level historical, cultural and art events.

According to Nguyen Van Thanh, an official in charge of managing the Hue Festival Centre, said the province is making efforts to improve the quality of the Hue Festivals, especially the 2014 event.

Besides regular activities such as the opening and closing ceremonies, an Ao dai (Vietnamese traditional dress) fashion show, street performances and folk games, a number of new programmes will be held as a distinctive feature of next year’s festival.

Especially, the Ao Dai show will be combined with installation and fire art performances and contemporary dances to mark the 115 years of Truong Tien Bridge and Dong Ba Market.

The Vietnam Commercial Bank for Industry and Trade (Vietinbank) is now the biggest sponsor for the event with 5 billion VND (230,000 USD), followed by the Hue Beer Company (Huda), with 3 billion VND.-VNA