Thang Long–Hanoi Festival 2026 Press Conference: From the flow of heritage to a creative, globally integrated capital
WVR - On the afternoon of August 20, the Hanoi Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism held a press conference to introduce the second Thang Long - Hanoi Festival (Festival) in 2026.
Latest
 |
| The second Thang Long - Hanoi Festival in 2026 is expected to offer high-quality cultural experiences. (Photo: Phi Khanh) |
Promoting heritage values, boosting cultural industry development
Speaking at the press conference, Deputy Director of the Hanoi Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism Le Thi Anh Mai stated that in 2025, the first Thang Long - Hanoi Festival was held in the capital with the theme “Heritage - Connection - Era”, initially creating a large-scale cultural and artistic space that connects heritage with contemporary creativity.
The first Festival featured more than 30 cultural, artistic, and tourism activities at many iconic spaces in Hanoi, attracting nearly 200,000 visitors and nearly 1 million social media engagements.
These are important results, demonstrating the appeal of a Festival built on a heritage foundation, while affirming the demand from residents and tourists for high-quality cultural and artistic products that offer experiences linked to the cultural space of the capital.
Building on these results, the second Thang Long - Hanoi Festival in 2026 is designed to inherit the achievements of the first edition while making new developments in content, space, and organizational methods.
Firstly, the 2026 Festival continues to use heritage as a foundation but places more emphasis on the process of heritage transmission, creativity, and dissemination in contemporary life. With the theme “Heritage Flow”, the Festival positions heritage in a continuous flow between the past, present, and future; thereby not only introducing and honouring heritage but also creating conditions for heritage to be accessed in new, more suitable ways for today's audience.
Secondly, the Festival space is expanded and diversified, associated with many cultural, heritage, and public spaces of the capital. Activities will be implemented at the Thang Long Imperial Citadel, Van Mieu - Quoc Tu Giam, Hanoi Museum, Bat Trang, and the Hoan Kiem Lake area. Thus, the Festival not only takes place on a stage but aims to create a cultural journey within Hanoi.
Thirdly, international and cultural exchange is enhanced. This year's Festival features the participation of international art troupes and troupes from various provinces and cities in the country. International art exchange programs, contemporary music, fashion, and performance activities will create additional spaces for cultural exchange between Hanoi, Vietnam, and international friends.
Fourthly, the 2026 Festival continues to increase community participation, involving artisans, artists, and creative forces, aiming for the public to not only enjoy but also directly participate in creating and spreading cultural values.
“We hope this year's Festival will continue to attract a large number of residents and tourists, providing more high-quality cultural experiences; while also contributing to promoting the image of Hanoi - a capital rich in tradition and identity, yet dynamic, creative, and integrative. Furthermore, by connecting heritage with art, creativity, tourism, and contemporary cultural activities, the Festival will contribute to promoting heritage values, boosting cultural industry development, and gradually building the cultural brand of the capital, in line with the orientation of building Hanoi as a UNESCO Creative City,” emphasised Le Thi Anh Mai.
 |
| Deputy Director of the Hanoi Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism Le Thi Anh Mai speaks at the press conference. (Photo: Viet Thanh) |
Beyond creating a cultural event
Speaking at the press conference, Director Pham Hoang Giang noted that the goal is not just to create a large-scale cultural event, but the 2026 Festival also aims to build a model capable of integrating multiple fields, connecting the links in the value chain of the capital's cultural industry.
Thus, the Festival is designed to be multi-spatial, multi-event, and multi-experience, with young people being one of the key audience groups. Heritage spaces will not only host programs but become part of the artistic experience. Audiences can engage with the Festival through multiple senses, from sound, light, and images to interaction with space and traditional cultural values.
One of the expected highlights of the Festival is the application of modern performance technology to tell stories formed over hundreds or thousands of years of history.
At the Thang Long Imperial Citadel, the opening program on September 11 will combine singing, dancing, and music with 3D mapping, augmented reality (AR), rotating stages, and stage effects.
According to Director Pham Hoang Giang, technology is not included in the program just to create visual effects, but is used as a storytelling tool, helping cultural and historical layers that are difficult to access become more approachable to contemporary audiences.
The languages of theater, television, and cinema are exploited to create visually rich images, giving heritage spaces a new life on stage. This is also a noteworthy approach: using modern language to tell old stories without losing the essence of heritage.
According to director Pham Hoang Giang, the presence of domestic and international artists is also one of the important highlights to spread the value of Hanoi beyond the Festival space. Through art, the image of a thousand-year-old Hanoi, dynamic, creative, and integrative, is told in a language accessible to contemporary audiences.
 |
| Director Pham Hoang Giang shares at the press conference. (Photo: Hai Ha) |
Continuing to promote the image of a thousand-year-old capital
Through the Festival, Hanoi continues to promote the image of a thousand-year-old capital, a City for Peace, a UNESCO Creative City, while gradually building the Thang Long - Hanoi Festival into a branded cultural event with wide-reaching impact and long-lasting effects on the cultural life, tourism, and sustainable development of the City.
At the Thang Long Imperial Citadel, at 8:00 PM on September 11, 2026, a special art program will open the second Thang Long - Hanoi Festival in 2026, with approximately 5,000 delegates and guests from home and abroad, kicking off the year's Festival art activities.
At 8:00 PM on September 12, 2026, an international art exchange program will take place, with expected participation from art troupes from Japan, the Republic of Korea, India, and art troupes from provinces and cities in the country: Dien Bien, Dak Lak, Hue, and Ho Chi Minh City. The program is themed “Thang Long - Hanoi, Bridge of Heritage”;
At 8:00 PM on September 13, 2026, a contemporary music art program will take place, helping to broaden the audience participating in the Festival, especially young audiences, while creating a connection between contemporary art forms and heritage spaces. The program uses the concept “MOVE Fest - The Train of Continuing Essence” as the overarching theme for the experience series from September 11-13 at the Thang Long Imperial Citadel, expected to attract about 250,000 visitors throughout the Festival.
At Van Mieu - Quoc Tu Giam, from September 11 to September 20, 2026, exhibitions, displays, heritage connection experiences, craft village essence experiences, and art performances will be organized, allowing the public to access traditional cultural values through various accessible, direct, and lively forms.
Additionally, at Hanoi Museum from September 11 to the end of 2026, exhibitions, experiences, and intangible cultural heritage performances will take place with the participation of artisans, artists, researchers, clubs, training schools, and creative cultural spaces.
In Bat Trang Commune on September 19, 2026, the “Sound of Ceramics” art performance program is expected to be organized with 2 to 3 performances, exploring sounds from ceramic materials and instruments, thereby introducing the cultural values of the traditional craft village through new artistic forms.
Alongside this, at the Monument of Sacrifice stage area from 4:30 PM to 6:00 PM on September 19, 2026, the fashion night “The Colour of Hanoi” will take place, with about 1,000 delegates, using contemporary fashion and design language to honor the intersection of traditional cultural values, local materials, craft excellence, and modern creativity.
The closing program of the second Thang Long - Hanoi Festival in 2026 will occur at 8:00 PM on September 20, 2026, at Dong Kinh Nghia Thuc Square, with approximately 2,000 delegates, summarizing and connecting the Festival's highlights, continuing to spread the message of a cultured, distinctive, creative, and integrative Hanoi.
