Hanoi (VNA) – The 2023 Hanoi Creative Design Festival opened onNovember 17 evening at the Gia Lam train factory with various interesting activities.

The festival, in its second edition, is jointly organised by the municipalPeople’s Committee, the Vietnam Association of Architects, and the Vietnam RailwayCorporation and relevant agencies.

Addressing the opening ceremony, Vice Chairwoman of the Hanoi People’s CommitteeVu Thu Ha highlighted Hanoi’s various actions to realise commitments tobuilding a creative city after nearly four years of becoming an official memberof the UNESCO Creative Cities Network.

The city has organised the annual Hanoi Creative Design Festival along with aseries of activities to rebuild urban areas and promote cultural heritage as aneffort to continue to promote the capital's potential and strengths, raise communityawareness, toward connectivity and expansion of cooperation between domesticand international organisations, experts and businesses in multiple fields of creativedesign and cultural industries, as well as realise its commitments to UNESCO whenby joining the Creative Cities Network

Ramla Khalidi, UNDP Resident Representative in Vietnam, said Hanoi, with itstradition, possesses potential to become a pioneering unit in all developmentfields. The festival, one of Hanoi’s initiatives, is an example for the city’ssuccess in realising the vision to become a creative capital of Vietnam.

The festival’s venue - the nearly 120-year-old industrial heritage space hasbeen transformed into a creative complex with unique architectural works andhosts close to 60 activities, exhibitions, and art and community experienceevents.

Themed “Flow”, the festival, which lasts until November 26, targets not onlythe creative community but also art lovers, aiming to engage them in theactivities.

Communityactivities will be organised on the mudflats on the Hong (Red) River, besides acycle tour, and design contests, among others. There will be a fair showcasingdiverse products in handicraft, creation, fashion, and communications.

To give more experiences to visitors, organisers will offer technology activitiessuch as three-dimensional painting and virtual tours.

Besides, workshops and seminars on creation to be held within the framework ofthe festival will offer a platform for creators and managers to seek ways torealise Hanoi’s desire for reform and creation.

Notably, there will be a special train connecting the two sides of the RedRiver, departing from the Hanoi Railway Station, going through Long Bien Bridge- a symbolic Red River crossing, to the Gia Lam Railway Station, from whereparticipants will walk to the former Gia Lam Train Factory, which is convertedinto a community space with booths displaying domestic creative brands andproducts in many fields from handicrafts to fashion andcommunication-advertisement.

Hanoi became an official member of UNESCO’s Creative CitiesNetwork in 2019./.