Đà Nẵng is about to get a serious cultural upgrade. From October 30 to November 8, the coastal city hosts the Đà Nẵng Art Creatives Connection — a ten-day programme titled 'History of Tomorrow' spread across the Đà Nẵng Museum and the Museum of Chăm Sculpture. Expect more than 20 activities: exhibitions, contemporary dance, workshops, artist talks, art tours and networking sessions, with artists, curators and artisans arriving from Việt Nam and beyond.

The doors open at 5pm on October 30 at the Đà Nẵng Museum on Trần Phú Street, with a second venue at the Chăm Sculpture Museum on September 2nd Street — the latter houses one of the finest collections of Champa-era sculpture anywhere. The city's culture department says the goal is to link cultural institutions with independent art spaces and build a sustainable creative scene, pitching Đà Nẵng as a city of 'Heritage, Creativity, Distinctive Identity'.

What makes this festival different from a generic city art week is how tightly it's woven into local craft. Nearby Hội An, which joined the UNESCO Creative Cities Network for Crafts and Folk Art in 2023, brings centuries-old trades into the programme — carpentry, terracotta, lantern-making, bamboo work, nipa-palm processing, tailoring and leather craft. Craftsmen in Cẩm Thanh are even experimenting with paintings made from nipa-palm pulp. The surrounding district counts nearly 70 craft villages and around 3,000 workshops, many doubling as tourist draws: the Non Nước stone-carving village, Nam Ô fish sauce makers, Thanh Hà pottery, Kim Bồng carpentry and Trà Quế vegetable village.

There's a green thread running through it too. Đà Nẵng has partnered with the Swiss Tourism for Sustainable Development project on 'Green Stay Criteria' for hotels, pushing the city's eco-tourism credentials alongside its creative ambitions.

For travellers, the timing is hard to beat. Đà Nẵng sits at the centre of one of Southeast Asia's densest heritage clusters: Hội An ancient town and Mỹ Sơn Sanctuary are both UNESCO World Heritage Sites, the Chàm Islands form a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve, and the cliff inscriptions at the Marble Mountains hold UNESCO Memory of the World status. The city is even preparing a world heritage dossier for the Marble Mountains themselves with UNESCO's help.

So if you're planning a Vietnam trip this autumn, you could catch a contemporary dance performance in the morning, watch a stone sculptor at work in Non Nước after lunch, and be drinking craft beer on My Khe beach by evening. It's a rare chance to see a fast-growing beach city lean into its artisan roots — and meet the makers doing it. Full programme details will be available through the Đà Nẵng Museum and the city's tourism channels.

Via Vietnam News Life