By Robyn Ayres, Executive Director
First published in Art+law December 2003
After presenting to a Vietnamese delegation late last year, I was invited to deliver a seminar series on copyright and performers’ rights for people working in arts management in Vietnam. The project was funded by the Ford Foundation in conjunction with Visiting Arts UK, the Vietnamese Ministry for Culture and Information and the Hanoi University of Culture. The idea behind the seminar series is to help with the development of infrastructure, including curricula for arts management courses in Vietnam, as the country moves from a centralised economy to a market economy. The need for increased understanding and awareness of copyright and performers’ rights laws was identified as one of the key issues needing urgent attention in the arts. It has also been identified as a problem area in Vietnam’s bid to join the World Trade Organisation. One only has to stroll the streets of Hanoi and see the ready availability of pirated works, local and foreign, such as books for sale in State-run bookshops, as well as CDs and DVDs to appreciate the size of the problem.
The seminars ran from 18-21 November after an opening ceremony officiated by Mr Tran Chien Thang, the Vice Minister for Culture. It was an intensive 4 days with 32 participants from various arts sectors including representatives from the Ministry for Culture and Information, the Copyright Office, the Vietnam Musicians’ Copyright Centre, the Vietnam Record Industry Association, the Vietnam Writers’ Association, government publishers, as well as theatre directors, musicians, painters photographers, conductors and performers. All the lecture materials and oral presentations were translated as many of the participants did not speak English (and I do not speak Vietnamese). Highlights were the surprising discussions that erupted about the impact of dubbing on performers’ rights, the concept of a classification system instead of straight censorship and the extent to which ethnic minorities’ rights were respected. I was also lucky enough to be there for Teachers’ Day and so was bestowed with gifts and songs.