HCMC – The Vietnam Festival of Creativity and Design (VFCD) will take place from November 7 to 20 to create an open and interactive platform for creative individuals and organizations to engage with an extended audience virtually and in person.
The fourth annual program, themed “CHANGE: The Creativity Challenge”, will include cultural exploration tours, talks, seminars, workshops, exhibitions and various online activities discussing the visions, trends, cultural identity and future opportunities for creative industries in Vietnam. Most events will not require entrance fees.
Professor Julia Gaimster, Dean of RMIT School of Communication & Design, said, “We have seen massive global shifts created by the Covid-19 pandemic. These include how people work, how they connect and communicate, and their priorities for the future.
“With ‘change’ there always comes a ‘challenge’ – how to ensure equity of opportunity, how to harness technology for the greater good and how to minimize the impact of our activities on the planet we call home. We aim to make the festival sustainable for the future, to continue to create impact and support for the creative industries in Vietnam and to provide opportunities for a wider audience to engage with and understand the value of creativity in all aspects of our lives.”
In anticipation of the main program in November, VFCD this year has opened up an unprecedented opportunity for cross-disciplinary collaboration with the Creativity Challenge Playground.
Currently underway, this challenge forms pairs between two individuals, groups, organizations or businesses operating in at least two different creative fields. The five finalist pairs were announced at the VFCD launch event on August 16.
Each pair will receive funding of VND50 million (around US$2,100) and expert support from the organizers to generate ideas and produce prototypes of cultural and creative products or services. These prototypes will be showcased during the festival weeks in Hanoi and HCMC in November.
Associate Professor Dr. Nguyen Thi Thu Phuong, Deputy Director of the Vietnam Institute of Cultural and Arts Studies (VICAS), said, “The Creative Challenge Playground is essentially a model that promotes interdisciplinary connectivity in creative practice to form ideas that embody ‘change for sustainable development’ – the theme of the challenge.”
“We expect to create a playground to connect, challenge and get Vietnamese talent to go beyond their creative capacity. They can level up their knowledge and skills relating to culture, arts and creativity, while building their capacity for cross-disciplinary project execution and management.”
VFCD 2022 is calling on the creative and cultural communities of Vietnam to submit proposals for events and activities to be featured at the festival this year. Individuals, groups, organizations and enterprises are welcome to propose their ideas by September 15, 2022 via the registration form.
This year’s event is being organized by RMIT University Vietnam in collaboration with UNESCO, VICAS, COLAB Vietnam and other partners in the creative industries.
