The Culture and Development Program of the Consulate General

In 2005 the Consulate General started a Culture and Development Program. The main goal of this program is to promote a better comprehension/understanding between the Dutch and the Vietnamese culture and to learn from each others cultures. The Consulate focuses on three cultural sectors :

1. commun cultural heritage 
2. performaning arts (specially dance and music) 
3. cultural heritage and preservation.

Commun Cultural Heritage

In 2005 the Consulate General launched the idea of publishing a book entitled; ‘’Lion and Dragon’’ about the relations between Vietnam and the Netherlands from the 17th century till nowadays. The book focuses on the history of the economic and diplomatic relations between the two countries. The articles are written by historians and specialists from both Dutch and Vietnamese nationality. The Dutch version of the book has been launched in september 2007. The English version will be published in March 2008 and the Vietnamese version in April 2008. On the occasion of the publication of the Vietnamese version of the book, a scientific symposium, gathering Dutch and Vietnamese historians, archeologists, artists and politicians will be organised in Hanoi in cooperation with the University of Social Sciences and Humanities. In 2008 the Consulate will start the survey for an archeological excavation in Northern Vietnam under the supervision of Dutch archeologists and historians. In the 17th Do Mea and Pho Hien were to be settlements/trading-post of the Dutch VOC (Eastern Trading Company). Prior to this project, the Consulate supports the publication of VOC-sources from the National Archives discovered by a Vietnamese scientist. Those sources will undoubtly reveal new informations about the commun history and also emphasise that there is possibly still a part of commun cultural heritage to discover and to investigate

Dance exchange project

Vietnam has a lot of very talented dancers. The dance exchange program of the Consulate General of the Netherlands is willing to promote Vietnamese dance in Holland as well as teaching and training Vietnamese dancers in western dance technics. Since 2005 several dancers and choreographers of the Ho Chi Minh City Ballet and the Ho Chi Minh City Dance School were sent to the Netherlands in order to assist workshops and training programms. Representatives of Fontys Danceacademy and of Festival Mundial Tilburg came to Ho Chi Minh City over the last two years. In August 2006 dancer Vu Ngoc Khai (Ho Chi Minh City Ballet) started a one year training at the Rotterdam Dance Academy Codarts. He is now working at the Dancecompany Dance Works Rotterdam. Two other dancers from the Ho Chi Minh City Ballet are studying Choreography at Fontys Dance Academy. In October 2006 representatives of Fontys visited Ho Chi Minh City for the first time and met several people of Vietnam’s danceworld in order to establish long term contacts and exchange programms for dancers, teachers and choreographers in cooperation with the Consulate General. Following this visit Fontys already sent several danceteachers to Vietnam in order to organise workshops and masterclasses at the Ho Chi Minh City DanceSchool. In 2008 this dance-exchange project will continue and be extended. Following the succes of the dance exchange programm, the Consulate General initiated a similar exchangeprogramm in the sector of music. The famous Dutch pianist Monique Copper came to HCMC to give masterclasses to students of Ho Chi Minh City Conservatory. Dutch conductor David Porcelijn trained and performed with the Ho Chi Minh City Symphony Orchestra. In 2008, the Consulate will extend this exchange programm.

Cultural Heritage/Preservation project

In november 2005 a preservationspecialist of the Royal Library of Holland was invited by the Consulate General to investigate on the quality of the preservation technics of the General Sciences Library of Ho Chi Minh City. Following the results of this research the Consulate is financially supporting several projects for the preservation of the very vulnerable collections of the Library. Especially the periodicals of the Southern Vietnamese period (1955-1975) are seriously endangered. Of course these collections are very important for Vietnam’s history. The Consulate General is financing several projects in order to improve the preservation conditions of the collections (protection from the humid climate, temperature and sunlight). In 2008 the Consulate of the Netherlands will finalise a preservation project of one of the most precious works of the Library in cooperation with the Consulate General of France.