Artist Vuong Le My Hoc, Head of the Museum's Department of Exhibition and Education, granted an interview to Thoi Nay (Present Day), a publication of Nhan Dan (People) Newspaper, to talk more about the activities hosted by the museum’s creative and arts space.
Question: Could you tell us about the history and operation of the museum’s creative and arts space?
Artist Vuong Le My Hoc: The space, initially named Creative Space for Children, opened in 2011 under the management of the Educational Department. At that time, I worked in the Exhibition Department, so I joined several events in the space.
In 2017, I was assigned to take on additional tasks for the Educational Department. Since then, my colleagues and I have developed more activities for the space, aiming to advertise the museum’s exhibits and provide experiential activities for visitors, including the youth, university students and foreigners.
I want to organise activities which can promote playful learning as they can tap into children's natural curiosity and desire to explore.
Artist Vuong Le My Hoc
Personally, I want to engage in art activities to raise public awareness of environmental protection by encouraging the use of recycled materials and the reuse of non-degradable materials, such as plastic bottles, nylon bags, paper cups, toilet paper, and foam food trays.
The space hosts annual programmes to celebrate International Children’s Day (June 1) and the Mid-Autumn Festival.
During COVID-19, our activities had to be organised in an online format. One of our notable activities during this period was an online competition on Vietnamese fine arts, which attracted about 20,000 contestants with roughly 2,500 valid entries in the 2021-2022 edition.
Every week, we hosted a drawing class for those who have a passion for painting. We have a team receiving information and arranging experience activities, such as drawing and printing graphic paintings for tourists. The busiest times are mainly at the end of summer and during the school year.
We have established partnerships with high school and secondary schools such as Nguyen Tat Thanh Inter-level High School, Olympia School, and Vin school education system, as well as culture and tourism faculties of several local universities.
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Artist Vuong Le My Hoc (third from left) and participants at an painting workshop held by the Vietnam National Fine Arts Museum's Creative and Arts Space (Photo: Vietnam National Fine Arts Museum) |
In addition to domestic students, are there any foreign children or tourists who have participated in activities hosted by the space?
Our activities have welcomed children from international schools in Hanoi as well as foreign visitors.
I want to organise activities which can promote playful learning as they can tap into children's natural curiosity and desire to explore.
Can you reveal some of the upcoming activities to be hosted by the museum in the coming time?
We plan to organise activities exploring art materials such as acrylic, silk, lacquer, clay, and ceramic plate painting.
In the near future, I am thinking of expanding our team of collaborators and volunteers, including art students or artists, to support our operation.
We will also foster the use of technology to bring more excitement for visitors and attract more interest from young people.
Thank you for your sharing!
