Hoi An Creative Week 2026: When young creatives bring fresh breeze into heritage

For decades, Hoi An, a popular tourist town in Da Nang City, central Vietnam, has been known for its lantern-lit streets, old houses, and traditional crafts. 

But beneath that familiar image, a younger creative energy is taking shape, one that is finding new ways to connect the place's heritage with contemporary ideas. 

Hoi An Creative Week 2026 offered a glimpse into that emerging scene.

When heritage becomes creative playground

Hoi An Creative Week 2026, held from August 28 to September 1, brought nearly 20 activities to venues both in and beyond the ancient town. 

Rather than being confined to a single location, the week spread exhibitions, workshops, talks, performances, and hands-on experiences across squares, museums, sculpture gardens, craft villages, and creative spaces. 

Familiar places around Hoi An were given a new role, as spaces to meet, make, learn, and experiment.

For visitors, this offered a slightly different way to experience Hoi An. 

Alongside a walk through the ancient town, they could come across an exhibition, join a workshop, listen to artisans talk about their craft or watch young people present new ideas.

Heritage was no longer simply something to look at, but something to interact with.

Behind these new ways of experiencing Hoi An were young people who were not simply taking part in the program, but also helping shape what happened within it.

Ten of Hoi An's traditional crafts were getting a new introduction at Hoi An Creative Week 2026, not through a conventional display, but through the eyes of a younger generation. 

Brought together in an open-air exhibition at An Hoi Sculpture Garden, the crafts were presented through their stories, materials and making processes, while artisans and young people worked together to bring them closer to visitors.

Foreign visitors could do more than simply look. Guided by young people working alongside artisans, they could try their hand at traditional craft techniques, hear the stories behind them, and learn about their history through a more youthful and engaging lens. 

But young people were not only experiencing these new ways of engaging with heritage; they were also being brought into conversations about what Hoi An's creative ecosystem needs next. 

There were a series of activities that brought experts and local stakeholders together to explore how to nurture Hoi An's existing creative resources. 

Particularly, at the 'Youth and the Creative Cultural Industry in Hoi An' discussion, young people took the lead, developing ideas for Hoi An Creative Space and mapping out the resources and connections needed to carry them forward over the next three to six months.

From working alongside artisans to finding new ways to tell heritage stories and turning their own ideas into action, young people were bringing a fresh perspective to what Hoi An's creative life could look like after the conclusion of the week.

Beyond lanterns: A look into Hoi An's creative life

Away from the familiar ancient town's streets, Hoi An's creative life could be found in a network of smaller spaces where art, craft and community often overlap. 

Cham Chi Club, CAB, and Kyara are among the places where young people could encounter different forms of creative practice, from workshops and hands-on making to exhibitions, artistic exchange and community activities. 

At Kyara Studio at 234 Tran Nhan Tong, Hoi An Dong Ward, for example, the gallery hosts exhibitions, artist talks, performances and screenings, while its workshops bring visitors closer to embroidery, natural dyeing and textile arts. 

Cham Chi Club at 47 Cua Dai, Hoi An Dong Ward, also offers a more informal setting where workshops and creative activities bring different interests and people together.

CAB Hoi An, short for Culture & Arts Base, works as a contemporary arts organizer and producer, bringing artists and cultural practices from elsewhere to Hoi An while creating opportunities for them to engage with local culture. 

Its programs have included experimental theater, such as a production that brought together Nguyen Du's 'The Tale of Kieu' and Brian E. Turner's 'Furtive Love.'

"For young people, these spaces are not simply places to attend an event, but places to meet others, pick up new skills and explore ideas outside the more familiar cultural venues," says Chau, a Hoi An native studying marketing in Ho Chi Minh City. 

"Rather than being concentrated in one creative district, Hoi An's creative life is scattered across different corners, taking different forms from one space to another."

For foreign visitors, many of these places are rarely part of the usual guidebook itinerary. 

Yet seeking them out offers a glimpse of a Hoi An that is easy to miss: a place where creativity is not confined to its heritage sites, but lives in the studios, workshops and communities where young people are making, learning and exchanging ideas today.