Quest Festival delights domestic and foreign youth

As many as 1,000 domestic and foreign youth attended a third-iteration Quest Festival, which recently took place at Son Tinh Camp in Hanoi.

The event was host to a number of famous local and foreign bands and DJs including Mimetals, Proportions, Blue Mato, and Alton Miller.

Within the framework of the festival, a wide range of workshops and other entertainment activities were also held.

Quest Festival, organised by Australian man Jeremy Wellard, aims to help Vietnamese youth access Western-style camping and strengthen cultural exchange.

It is expected to expand its scale in Ho Chi Minh and Danang in the coming time.

First Hoi An- RoK fine art and craft exchange opens

The first Hoi An- Republic of Korea (RoK) fine art and handicraft exchange programme is taking place in Hoi An city, the central province of Quang Nam on December 2-4.

The event is jointly held by Hoi An city and Gwuangju city of the RoK as part of activities to celebrate 15 th anniversary of the recognition of Hoi An ancient town as a World Cultural Heritage (December 4, 1999-2014).

According to Truong Van Bay, Vice Chairman of the municipal People’s Committee, the progamme aims to boost cultural and artistic exchanges between the two cities, thus promoting their culture and traditional crafts.

A wide range of Hoi An traditional crafts are displayed during the event, including Thanh Ha lanterns and ceramics, Kim Bong carpentry, Cam Thanh knitting and Quang Nam silk.

Meanwhile, artisans from Gwangju (RoK) city perform their traditional crafts like weaving, papermaking and bamboo art.

In addition, Hoi An city also serves tourists with traditional art performances every night and provides them with a chance to discover the world cultural heritage of Hoi An through a photo exhibition.

As part of the programme, on December 2, the city joined hands with the International Labour Organisation (ILO) and RoK artisans to hold a seminar on developing fine arts and handicrafts in the two cities.

The best works selected from the 2014 Vietnam Heritage Photo Awards contest are being exhibited Hoi An, a world heritage site, in central Quang Nam province, and Mekong delta Can Tho city, from December 2.

The photos make up a journey through wonderful landscapes, diverse cultural identities, habits and customs, and traditional festivals across Vietnam.

The Vietnam Heritage Photo Awards contest, launched in July, 2014, received over 4,400 entries, focusing on national tangible and intangible cultural heritage and natural wonders.

The photos have been shown in 44 tourist sites across the country and will be on display until March 10, 2015.

The exhibition is part of the activities to mark the 10th anniversary of Vietnam’s Cultural Heritage Day (November 23), contributing to calling for the community to join hands in preserving Vietnamese cultural heritage.

Vietnam has nine cultural practices wining UNESCO’s intangible heritage status, including Vi-Dam folk singing, Hue's royal court music, Gong space culture in Tay Nguyen (Central Highlands), the northern province of Bac Ninh's love duet singing, the Giong festival, Ca Tru ceremonial singing, Xoan singing, Don Ca Tai Tu music and the worship of Hung Kings.

Gala raises funds for poor children

A New York-based corporation, Streets international (STREETS) has organized a gala to raise funds for Vietnamese poor children, which is set for December 4 at the five-star Sofitel Hotel in Vietnam.

The event has attracted a number of well-known celebrities including STREETS Ph.D. Founder Neal F.Bermas, STREETS Director Sondra Stewart, and Chef Robert Danhi.

A unique auction along with French food and wines tastings served by famous chefs of the hotel has been planned for the event.

All of the funds raised by the event have been designated for use by the school to build infrastructure, improve the learning environment, and expand the scale of the school.

Streets International has an aim to provide culinary and hospitality training for street kids, orphans and other disadvantaged youth. It is a self-sustaining initiative with all the revenues from the Streets Restaurant Café going to support the programme.

Established in 2007 it opened its Hoi An Restaurant Café in 2009, Streets International provides an 18-month training programme that follows a curriculum developed in conjunction with the Institute of Culinary Education in New York. After finishing programme, graduates will receive an international certificate in the hospitality and culinary fields.

The programme provides necessary daily living support for participants—called 'Trainees'. This includes supervised housing, food, financial support and basic medical care. Trainees are selected from throughout Vietnam who typically are orphaned or come from extreme poverty, including those that have been trafficked or are part of the often overlooked ethnic minority groups.

Its goal is to match the needs of disadvantaged youth with the opportunities in growing tourism economies, by providing job training, English language instruction and life skills education.

Responding to calling of Vietnam’s Stamp Association toward the country’s sea islands and marking the 70th anniversary of establishment of Vietnam People’s Army (22 rd December, 1944- 2014) , Vietnam Stamp Club held the eighth stamp exhibition in Ho Chi Minh City.

The exhibition aims to introduce stamp collections and encourage Vietnamese people in  collecting stamps.

On display are 30 stamp collections of 38 collectors from Hanoi, Hai Phong, Thua Thien Hue, Quang Nam and Ho Chi Minh City.

Collections are to focuse on Vietnam’s Sea Islands, Vietnam’s army force, history and cultural beauty of Vietnam and world.

The organizers awarded 13 the best valuable prizes for winners.