After many years of public theater artists receiving low allowances and cat-xe, Decree 261/2026/ND-CP was issued and is considered an important adjustment step, contributing to improving income and creating more motivation for artists to stick with the profession.
Sharing with Lao Dong reporters, Meritorious Artist Si Tien - Director of the Youth Theater said that the unit has deployed the dissemination of the content of Decree 261/2026/ND-CP to all officials and artists immediately after the document was issued.
Like units under the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, we have organized meetings with departments, accounting departments, finance departments and artists to disseminate new content. At the preliminary conference for the first 6 months of the year, the theater also informed all officials and artists to grasp the spirit of the decree," he said.
According to Meritorious Artist Si Tien, the increase in training and performance allowances makes many artists excited. The new policy applies to public employees in public art units, thereby contributing to improving income for the working team.
He said that in addition to the base salary increasing by 8%, training and performance allowances have also been significantly adjusted. Previously, units implemented old regulations with low allowances, while Decree 261 has increased professional preferential allowances from 15-20% to 20-30%.
This is great support for professional artists, contributing to improving income and living standards," the Director of the Youth Theater shared.
However, Meritorious Artist Si Tien also noted that the current policy is only applied to public employees, while most young actors are not yet in the payroll, so they are not eligible.
In previous conversations with Lao Dong reporters, Meritorious Artist Si Tien once said that for many years the income of public theater artists has been very low.
Policies on salaries, training and performance fees are being researched and implemented, and artists' incomes may increase by 1.5-2 times when new policies are applied.
In fact, for many years, the cat-xe level at public theaters has almost not changed.
A main role only receives about 150,000-200,000 VND per performance, supporting roles about 70,000-80,000 VND. Low income makes many artists have to do many other jobs to cover their lives.
This adjustment partly meets the aspirations of artists in ensuring their lives. When income from practice and performance is increased, artists will be more assured in their work. Previously, many people had to do many other jobs to cover their lives, but now there will be more income, helping salaries to be more commensurate with the effort put in," Meritorious Artist Si Tien said.
Assessing the implementation process, the Director of the Youth Theater said that the new decree has just taken effect, so no problems have arisen and believes that the implementation will be smooth.
According to him, after a period of application, if inadequacies from practice appear, units will continue to summarize and propose to improve policies.
