Prose - the art of words

The Literature Association is considered a strong branch from the number of members to movement activities, association activities and compositions. The interference with the poetry major is a special feature of the literary major: Many literary members are gifted with poetry and vice versa, many poetry members have unique literary works.

The Prose Association of Lao Cai, going through a historical journey with many stages, still maintains a persistent development that having many famous authors on the literary scene across the country such as Ma Van Khang, Ma A Lenh, Doan Huu Nam, etc, and successive generations such as Ma Anh Lam, Hoang Anh Tuan and so on.

Famous authors such as Ma A Lenh, Doan Huu Nam, Cao Van Tu etc, still foster their passion for composing and transmit their enthusiasm to writers and the young generation. In just 5 years, 34 prose publications have been published.

In 2021, there has been the enthusiastic cooperation and dedication of 3 young writers: Truong Thi Lan (Office of the Association), Nguyen Hong Loan (Provincial Center for Disease Control - Department of Health), Nguyen Thu Trang (Lao Cai College) for some short stories (mainly reportage genres, press notes), etc. Young members, such as Nguyen Thi Hang (teacher of Tan An Primary School, Van Ban) continue to nurture their passion for learning, creative writing, diverse writing, and increasingly impressive writing style.

Poetry - fragrant pistil and sweet nectar

Lao Cai Poetry Association is quite strong with 28 members although composing poetry is not a simple thing. In addition, there are a number of members with other specialties such as prose, photography, etc. also participate in composing poetry.

In the past 5 years, Lao Cai Poetry Association has marked many imprints for Lao Cai poetry: Hundreds of poems have been published in newspapers and magazines inside and outside the province; 25 poetry collections are published by prestigious publishers such as Literature Publishing House, Writers Association Publishing House, National Culture Publishing House, etc. with rich content value, reflecting the human life of each land, especially the cultural identity and people of ethnic minorities in Lao Cai. Many poetry collections, poetry clusters won high prizes in competitions and prizes of Lao Cai province, central prizes such as Ma Anh Lam won the B prize of the Association of Literature and Arts of Vietnam's Ethnic Minorities; Po Sao Min with 2 poetry collections won 1 prize B, 1 prize C of the Association of Literature - Arts of ethnic minorities in Vietnam; Hoang Anh Tuan won the third prize of the contest organized by the Vietnam Writers Association in collaboration with the Hoa Binh Literature and Arts Association.

Poetry Association, not only creates favorable conditions for its members, but also especially facilitates other specialized members to participate in professional activities, ready to exchange with local poetry clubs. Thanks to that, photography member Huy Thuc recently published a book of poems called Clouds that forgot to sleep, winning the A prize of the province's annual Literature - Art award; The Poetry Club of Coc Leu Ward (Lao Cai City) organized a poetry contest to successfully celebrate the Party congresses at all levels for the 2020-2025 term and the 30th anniversary of the re-establishment of Lao Cai province (1991-2021) with the support of the Executive Committee of the Association.

Photography - visual art

The melody of love

If literature is the art of words and ideas, photography is the juggling of composition, light, color, sharpness, contrast, etc. Therefore, knowing how to take photos is one thing, but capturing photos that reach artistic level is not simple.

Maybe that's why there are many Lao Cai photo artists, but there are not many members of the Literature and Arts Association. Although with only 22 members, the Photography Association has a long history of activities, actively responding to the general movements of the Association and the province, is the core force for the Literature and Arts Association of the Province to publish the publication of photo books and photo exhibition "Lao Cai through the art of photography" to welcome the 16th Provincial Party Congress; make exhibition of photos at the 30th Anniversary of the Re-establishment Day of the province, make exhibition for the annual Spring Festival of the Upper Temple; organize the exhibition of 200 art photos about people and nature of Sa Pa; actively participate in art photo contests organized by the Literature and Arts Association of the Province with the patronage of the Vietnam Association of Photographic Artists, photo contests organized by districts in the province, etc.

Every year, Lao Cai photographers participate in regional, national and Lao Cai province photo festivals or central ministries and agencies, with nearly 60 awards of all kinds with a number of prizes at major competitions such as author Gia Chien won the Silver Medal of the Word Cup award, the Bronze Medal of the regional photo festival; Authors Manh Cuong, Thao Thi Minh Tam won the C prize of the National Committee of the Union of Literature and Arts Associations of Vietnam and so on.

Music - low and high in each staves

To become a musician, you must understand musical theory, add a little soul and a little understanding of literature and poetry, and then have to find a topic and find inspiration to be able to compose a song. Perhaps that is why the membership of the music association of Lao Cai is very "modest", only 13 people.

Few but outstanding! During the tenure, together with famous musicians who have been confirmed it is the representative class for the young generation of dynamic and curious Lao Cai musicians, each year 25-30 works are composed. In particular, during the tenure, there have been more than 30 works which won prizes by the National Committee of the Union of Literature and Arts Associations of Vietnam, the Association of Vietnamese Musicians, the annual Literary-Art Award, the Awards Campaign for composing and promoting literary and artistic works on the topic of studying and following Ho Chi Minh's thought, morality and style and other thematic prizes.

That is musician Phung Chien with 31 songs composed, won 6 awards, including 1 B prize of Vietnam Composers Association, 2 B prizes of Vietnam Ethnic Minority Arts Association, 1 prize B of the People's Committee of Lao Cai Province... ; composer Vu Dinh Trong was rewarded an award by the Party Central Committee for outstanding achievements in composing and promoting songs on the topic of studying and following morality and style and Ho Chi Minh's ideology, and 3 the song won 3 A prizes; composer Xuan Quynh composed 16 works, won 5 awards; composer Kim Xuan Hung, Ma Thanh Quan, Kim Lan, Phu Ngoc Lan composed quite regularly... 

Fine art - variations of colors and lines

As an "outsider", I only know that artists have to work hard in art, find topics, go to field trip to get information, get inspiration... and then have to combine elements of shapes, lines, colors, tones, spaces... and even materials to match. Every time they go to draw, the artists have to bring more tools with easels, canvas, frames, pencils, colors, bottles... even buckets and pots (to mix colors). Not only that, to complete a work, no matter how careful they are, their hands, feet, and clothes will be stained. However, every time there is a field trip or a creative camp, the artists are very enthusiastic, saying like artist Do Chung - former member of the Association's Executive Committee: All for passion!

The work of Ha Nhi Fire Stove - Nguyen Hoan Thien.

Remember in 2018, Lao Cai hosted the Fine Arts Exhibition of Region III Northwest - North Vietnam, Lao Cai artists participated enthusiastically and won 1 Consolation prize and many certificates of merit from the Vietnam Fine Arts Association. In addition to the annual regional exhibition, the artists also participate in competitions, exhibitions, logo creation, thematic composition campaigns and major projects of the province on the occasion of organizing major events, cultural and artistic activities in the province. 

With only 17 members, each year, the Fine Arts Association has about 50 works participating in exhibitions in the province and region, won 2 Regional Consolation prizes, 1 Consolation prize of the Vietnam Navy Department, some works are displayed in the Military Museum and the Vietnam Fine Arts Museum, along with many local and central specialized awards…

Folk art - engrossed in research and collection

The Folk Art Association is in charge of collecting, researching, disseminating and teaching the cultural capital - folk art of Vietnam's ethnic groups.

Lao Cai is one of the leading provinces in the country in the number of intangible cultural heritages, with 26 heritages, 46 ranked monuments and landscapes, and dozens of traditional folk festivals in the localities. This is a rich source of material for collectors and researchers of folk art. In the past 5 years, there have been 50 research and collection works of folk art, of which more than 20 publications have been published and many individual works have been published in newspapers and magazines. The main works are the works "Folk knowledge on cultivation of the Nung Din people in Lao Cai" by the author Vang Thung Chung, which won the 3A prize and the manuscript of the folk rituals of the Tay people in Nghia Do Commune, Bao Yen District of the author Pham Van Chien, Ma Thanh Soi, Duong Tuan Nghia, Nguyen Ngoc Thanh won the 3B prize of the Vietnam Folk Art Association.

Over the years, members of the association have participated in preserving and promoting the value of 19 national intangible cultural heritages; reviewing, supplementing documents, opening heritage transmission classes and filming to preserve many intangible cultural heritages. Filming, taking photos to preserve the cultures of ethnic groups: Nung, La Chi, Phu La, Thu Lao, Bo Y, Red Dao, Xa Pho, Mong, Dao, Giay... to build 18 heritage scientific records intangible cultural heritage submitted to the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism for inclusion in the list of national intangible cultural heritage; having advised and coordinated to organize the implementation of many folk festivals in the province, contributing to preserving the traditional culture of ethnic groups and creating a highlight for tourism development in Lao Cai.

The development of the Lao Cai Literature and Arts Association today is fostered by the effort, passion and enthusiasm of each member and each major. Together, actively build strong associations, stick to the political tasks of the country and the province, strive to create literary and artistic works and papers to commensurate with the development of the country, nation, so that literature - art of Lao Cai is really a flower that is more and more colorful, fragrant with beautiful "petals".