Beauty contestants who compete illegally may be banned from leaving the country

The Department of Performing Arts affirmed that it will strengthen management and supervision of beauty contests and fashion shows both domestically and internationally.

The Department of Performing Arts had a meeting with the media to share about its activities in 2015. Director Nguyen Dang Chuong said: "Management work will be tightened this year to orient and promote the development of artistic activities nationwide, meeting the needs of the people in the new period."

Supervision of beauty pageant contestants will be tightened in 2015.

In addition to drafting the Performing Arts Law Project, the Department plans to amend and supplement Decree 79 on activities ranging from fashion shows, beauty contests to music.

Instead of organizing two national beauty contests in a year, the Department is considering asking for permission from the Prime Minister as well as ministries, departments and branches to reduce it to just one. Meanwhile, the number of beauty contests at the sectoral, regional and local levels will remain at five. Mr. Nguyen Dang Chuong said that in 2014, there were many cases of websites and companies organizing and awarding beauty contests and then illegally promoting them on the Internet. "Reducing the number of contests is to ensure effectiveness, suitability with real life, the country's economic conditions as well as human resources," the Department Director said.

Supervision of beauty queens and models who illegally compete abroad is also being tightened. In addition to administrative penalties as prescribed, if there are any repeat offenders, the Department will ask other law enforcement agencies to impose stronger sanctions, the highest level being temporary suspension from leaving the country.

In 2014, there were 6 contestants who entered beauty pageants without permission. Huynh Thuy Anh was the one who violated the most. She was banned from performing at the end of September for participating in a contest in the US. She then re-offended when she entered the Miss Intercontinental contest, held in Germany.

In the future, models will need to have a license to perform at large and small shows.

In 2015, the Department of Performing Arts will develop a circular to issue performing arts and fashion practice cards. Mr. Chuong said that taking advantage of distorted thinking about the entertainment world, many companies and centers have organized illegal model training activities, aiming to exploit the dark side of this profession for profit. The most typical case is the bust of a thousand-dollar prostitution ring in Ho Chi Minh City on April 15.

Issuing practice cards will also help Decree 79 to be implemented more easily and strictly than before. Specifically, cases of continuous violations of regulations may have their practice cards revoked, from one year to permanently depending on the severity.

This year, the management agency will launch a number of activities to promote the development of domestic artists as well as traditional art forms.

The Department will propose a new salary scale for artists (as stipulated in Decision No. 180 of the Prime Minister). Mr. Chuong said that many people have been working for a long time but their current salary is still only at level 4.6 (about 5.29 million VND). This is not really satisfactory for what they contribute.

The number of artists working in traditional art forms is gradually fading away. Photo: HBN.

Meanwhile, the country's traditional arts are also facing many difficulties. One of the main reasons is that the creative force and artists are facing a crisis in numbers.

The management agency will develop a project to train actors for traditional art units across the country. The selection target will be expanded to include students who have completed secondary school. After that, cultural studies and professional training will take place in parallel instead of in the previous order. The director explained: "Normally, talented actors are only recruited after they have finished high school. They have to spend a lot of time working before becoming real artists. With the new approach, young artists will have two things at the same time right after completing the course: cultural level and professional experience."

For other traditional art forms such as reformed opera, opera, etc., Mr. Chuong said that the Department has developed a roadmap for training corresponding actors until 2020. Each type will gradually be included in this model in the coming time.

According to VNE