Culture - Sports

UK arts director trains local in organising festivals

About 25 art promoters and festival organisers from around the nation will attend the first training workshop on festival management in Vietnam from March 17-20.
About 25 art promoters and festivalorganisers from around the nation will attend the first trainingworkshop on festival management in Vietnam from March 17-20.

This activity is part of a three-year capacity-building programme onfestival management launched by the British Council in Hanoi incooperation with the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism ofVietnam.

As well as helping to promote the arts, the British Council will alsoput British festival organisers in touch with their Vietnamesecounterparts.

The first training workshop will be held by UK festival director Nick Dodds.

Arts promoters and festival organisers from Hanoi , HCM City , QuangNinh, Khanh Hoa, Hue and Binh Thuan will be in attendance.

The programme, which is part of the British Council’s global projectentitled “ New Work New Audience” , will include a series of trainingworkshops on arts festival organisation led by UK directors and aseries of wraparound events to showcase UK and Vietnamese arts toaudience in the two countries.

“The British Council hopes through this project, festival organiserswill be better able to contribute to the development of the country’scultural infrastructure,” said Simon Beardow, deputy director of theBritish Council Vietnam.

Nick Dodds was chief executive of the Brighton Dome and BrightonFestival from 200 to 2008, where he was responsible for artistic andcommercial operations.

Dodds oversaw the relaunch in 2002 of the Brighton Festival Fringe-England ’s largest arts festival. He was also responsible for thecapital refurbishment of the Brighton Dome and Museum.

Dodds was formerly chairman of the British Arts Festival Associationsand the International Festival and Events Association- Europe.

Dodds has been organizing arts events for nearly 30 years.

“I have been waiting for this kind of event for a long time,” saidHuynh Tien Dat, deputy director of the Hue Festival Centre.

“Vietnam has no school or centre offering training in festivalorganization. I attended a course for cultural officers but it was ageneral workshop and did not focus on festival organization,” Dat said.

The programme will be held every three months in different locations.The next workshop is scheduled to be held in Hue in June./.
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