The Vietnam Festival of Media & Design: Hanoi 2019’s Opening Night

Supported by RMIT University, one of the leading creative educators in Vietnam, United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and Vietnam National Institute of Culture and Arts Studies (VICAS), the festival’s opening ceremony is a warm welcome to all of the honoured guests and partners from the creative industry.

RMIT Vietnam Vice-President Academic and Head of School of Communication & Design Professor Rick Bennett shared his own memories when he first came to Vietnam in 2014. “I have fallen in love with this country - and especially the people - with their amazing warmth, their powerful resilience and work ethic, and their enviable collaborative culture,” he said. He also admitted that since his arrival at RMIT University in Vietnam, the Creative Showcase have been held in both cities each year; however, it is always a larger exhibition in the South. Therefore, this year, RMIT and most importantly with very strong support from its parent university (RMIT in Melbourne), have all agreed it is time to focus far more on Hanoi. Instead of having just in-house Showcases in both cities, RMIT has decided to host the inaugural Vietnam Festival of Media & Design in the great city of Hanoi.

Professor Rick Bennett said the timing of the festival is perfect on many levels, including RMIT’s 20 year’s of collaboration in Vietnam, Vietnam’s appointment as ASEAN Chair in 2020, and Hanoi being awarded the status of Creative City for Design and becoming a member of UNESCO Creative Cities Network.

“RMIT is wholeheartedly dedicated to the ongoing creative development of Hanoi, including an expansion of our own RMIT campus,” Professor Bennett said. “We are totally committed to becoming an integral part of the urban fabric of this Hanoi and have some amazing ideas of how to do that.”

Deputy Director of Vietnam National Institute of Culture and Arts Studies, Associate Professor Dr Pham Lan Oanh emphasised the significant role of cultural industries on Vietnam’s socio-economic development, and the festival’s alignment with the national strategy to raise community and societal awareness of creative activities and education in Vietnam, and to train and improve the quality of human resources in the cultural industry.

“We believe that the Vietnam Festival of Media & Design: Hanoi 2019 will create great impact in raising community and societal awareness of creative activities and education in Vietnam, by implementing two key solutions from the Strategy to develop cultural industries in Vietnam until 2020, with a vision to 2030,” she said.

Responding to the press and media, Michael Croft, Head of UNESCO Hanoi Office in Vietnam mentioned the important role of Vietnamese young people in promoting Hanoi to become more creative and more energetic. According to Michael Croft, The Vietnam Festival of Media & Design: Hanoi 2019 will bring a great opportunity for effectively engaging the youth with a range of meaningful  activities for our community. This festival is regarded as an occasion for government, organisers and other international stakeholders working with the youth in the development of such a creative Hanoi.