Ho Chi Minh City builds long-term development path for artistic, athletic talent

A draft resolution outlining mechanisms and policies for training, nurturing, and employing individuals with artistic and athletic talent in Ho Chi Minh City, drafted by the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Culture and Sports, is expected to be submitted to the Ho Chi Minh City People's Council in late October 2026.

The draft is anticipated to help address a long-standing challenge: how to provide identified talent with the necessary conditions to fully develop into professional excellence.

Unblocking bottlenecks in practice

For many years in Ho Chi Minh City, building a successor force in culture, arts, and sports has remained a difficult puzzle. The obstacles stem not only from financial support but also from regulations regarding training standards and formats.

The story at the Ho Chi Minh City Hat Boi Theater serves as an example. The theater currently has 25 actors, all of whom were trained through traditional mentorship under the direct guidance of experienced artists with deep expertise.

In 2016, 2017, and 2018, the theater had dedicated funding to conduct training classes for actors and musicians. However, since 2019, this funding source has ceased because training regulations no longer align with the master-apprentice mentorship model. Despite this, the theater continues to train and hone young performers to supplement its successor workforce.

Many actors identified and trained from a young age have since become core members, earning achievements at competitions and festivals; among them are artists who have been awarded the titles of People's Artist and Meritorious Artist.

This reality shows that for specialized art forms, the journey from raw talent to professional practice does not always pass through formal schooling. The draft dossier also highlights a practical reality: many talented individuals who are descendants of artists wish to pursue traditional art forms but do not meet formal degree requirements; conversely, some meet degree requirements but lack the necessary innate qualities to follow the profession.

For this reason, the new policy needs to address two requirements simultaneously: identifying truly talented individuals and creating conditions for them to receive training through appropriate methods. In a written feedback submission sent to the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Culture and Sports, a representative of the Ho Chi Minh City Union of Literature and Arts Associations suggested unifying the term "traditional artistic talent," while also adding folk dance, particularly folk dance featuring Southern regional identity, to the eligible training categories.

Ho Chi Minh City University of Law proposed adjusting the interpretation of the concept "artistic talent" to rely not only on innate gifts but also on aesthetic perception, creativity, professional capability, and practical practice. This feedback has been absorbed and adjusted in the draft.

These suggestions indicate that the challenge is not only finding individuals with talent, but also building a mechanism flexible enough to identify, train, and nurture them, providing the necessary conditions for raw talent to develop into professional excellence.

Investing today to retain talent for tomorrow

While traditional arts require many years of mentorship, high-performance sports also demand early detection, selection, and training. The draft resolution sets out to train and coach 50 talented individuals across 10 sports, including fencing, gymnastics, swimming, athletics, weightlifting, shooting, boxing, taekwondo, archery, and rowing, with an estimated total budget of VND27.6 billion (US$1.1 million).

In the arts sector, the total estimated budget is VND29.16 billion for five disciplines, including Hat Boi (Vietnamese classical opera), Cai Luong (Southern reformed opera), traditional musical instruments, puppetry, and circus, of which VND19 billion is allocated for overseas training. These are fields that require in-depth training, while suitable domestic training facilities remain lacking.

Notably, the draft addresses not only training expenses but also the utilization of human resources post-training. Supported individuals will be provided with opportunities to work, pursue professional activities, and further improve their skills at city institutions; at the same time, they must commit to working for at least five years as assigned.

Regulations on mandatory service duration and post-training responsibilities have also received various feedback. The Vung Tau Ward People's Committee proposed that individuals receiving long-term overseas training must commit to serving the sector for at least 10 years, while those undergoing short-term training and coaching should commit to at least five years.

Meanwhile, the Vietnam Fatherland Front Committee of Ho Chi Minh City noted that cases of trainees, athletes, and artists suffering injuries or accidents leading to the loss of professional capability or undergoing natural physiological changes beyond control should be taken into account when determining training cost reimbursement obligations. Sending minors abroad for long-term training also requires a plan to ensure their academic education remains uninterrupted.

According to the Culture and Social Affairs Committee of the Ho Chi Minh City People's Council, the draft needs to clarify the support mechanism for sports training and coaching. This feedback has been incorporated to cover training expenses, salaries, nutrition, accommodation, travel, and other necessary conditions. Minors under 18 years old must also be guaranteed access to academic education, physical and psychological development, and their legitimate rights and interests.

From traditional arts to high-performance sports, talent cannot take shape through a single discovery alone but requires a comprehensive process of training, practice, and an appropriate environment to grow. Ho Chi Minh City's draft policy aims to build an end-to-end mechanism spanning detection, selection, and training to employment and talent recognition. The remaining question is how to ensure these support policies translate into practical execution—enabling gifted individuals to develop their abilities, pursue their careers with peace of mind, and make long-term contributions to the city.