Hanoi Creative Design Festival 2026 expands creative space throughout the city

On October 21, the Hanoi People’s Committee issued Plan No. 408/KH-UBND on implementing Hanoi Creative Design Festival activities in 2026. According to the plan, the festival is held throughout the city, focusing on the East Square areas and the pedestrian street space of Hoan Kiem Lake, the old quarter – Hoan Kiem, Dong Xuan – Bac Qua market, Hang Dau Water Tower, Thong Nhat Park and many other plus points. other benefits. The distributed organization in many locations is expected to help creative activities go deeper into the urban space and be directly linked to community life.

The opening ceremony is scheduled to take place on November 13 at the Square area east of Hoan Kiem Lake. The program will combine art performances, introduce outstanding creative activities in 2026 and announce the 2026 Hanoi Creative Award. This is also the starting point for a series of activities lasting more than two weeks, connecting many fields such as design, art, traditional crafts, fashion, music and community creative models. The Hoan Kiem Lake area will be one of the key spaces of the festival with music and art performances combined with fashion and community activities. The creative Pavillon space is built with outdoor installations using patterns, materials and inspiration from traditional culture, creating an intersection between heritage and contemporary design language. Exhibitions, workshops and experiential activities are also held at Eastern Square, Dong Kinh Nghia Thuc Square, Dinh Tien Hoang Street and many nearby locations. In the Dong Xuan market area and surrounding streets, the festival plans to introduce many contemporary art installations and exhibitions by Vietnamese and international artists. Choosing a commercial space with a long history like Dong Xuan market not only aims to expand the venue but also aims to connect creative activities with business life, urban heritage and the resident community. Businesses in the area are also encouraged to participate, gradually becoming part of the creative ecosystem instead of just providing services for the event. The series of activities “Stories of Communal Houses in the Streets” and “Crafts Through the Streets” continue to exploit relics, ancestral temples, craft streets and traditional craft villages through displays, discussions, workshops and hands-on experiences. Participants can access many types of crafts such as lacquer, embroidery, silk, woodblock carving, shoe leather and other traditional crafts. Thereby, the festival creates an opportunity for ancient craft values ​​to be introduced in a new context, while opening up connections between artisans, designers, the creative community and the market. Another series of activities called “Hanoi Bright Lights” will bring traditional, contemporary and interdisciplinary art forms to theaters, theaters, monuments and many creative spaces of the city. Meanwhile, the program “Amazing Hanoi” focuses on introducing works of art in public spaces, turning familiar urban locations into places to approach art closer to residents and tourists. At Thong Nhat Park, the “Creativity Sprouts” program was organized as a test of the urban creativity incubator model. This space is expected to include experiential activities, exhibitions and community connections, creating conditions for new ideas to be tested in real-life environments. This approach shows that the festival is oriented beyond mere display and performance to become a place to test models that can continue to operate after the event ends. Through the entire chain of activities, Hanoi aims to build a creative ecosystem in which heritage is considered a resource, traditional crafts are the foundation, the community plays a co-creative role, and art has the ability to symbiotic with the economy. Indigenous values ​​are placed in relationship with contemporary design and thinking, thereby both maintaining its own identity and expanding its ability to connect with domestic and international creative networks. One of the important directions of the Hanoi Creative Design Festival 2026 is to make a transition from organizing single events to building an urban creative ecosystem capable of long-term operation. The city also aims to gradually develop the festival into an event with a national and international brand in the field of creative design, thereby enhancing Hanoi’s position in the network of creative cities. The festival is also considered a space for testing new products, models and organizational methods, creating conditions for creative design activities to get closer to the market. Promoting the commercialization of creative products is expected to contribute to the cultural industry, night economy, cultural tourism and related service industries, thereby expanding economic value from the Capital’s inherent cultural resources. In addition to the role of organizations and creatives, the plan also emphasizes the participation of people, residential communities, business households and organizations and individuals at the event location. This approach aims to let the community not only be an audience but also directly participate in the process of creating creative spaces, products and experiences, thereby helping the festival to be more closely linked to urban life and capable of maintaining vitality after the organization period.