Dates: October 4–12, 2024
Venues: Smithsonian National Museum of Asian Art, Smithsonian American Art Museum, U.S. Institute of Peace, Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library
Partners: Smithsonian Institution, USIP, Columbia University, DC MOAPIA

The third annual Vietnam Week transformed Washington, DC into a city-wide festival celebrating Vietnamese heritage, creativity, and dialogue. In partnership with leading institutions, the 2024 edition drew thousands of visitors to programs exploring identity, art, and global connection.

The festival opened with Vietnamese Night at the Museum at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Asian Art — a vibrant evening of music, crafts, and food culminating in the U.S. premiere of Nguyễn Quốc Trung’s Road to Infinity concert with the Phương Đông band.

At the Martin Luther King Jr. Library, Sigh, Gone author Phuc Tran and filmmaker Elizabeth Ai joined moderator Thuy Dinh for Rebellion and Aesthetic Expressions, a conversation on art, rebellion, and self-preservation. Tran also hosted a Cranky Kids’ Corner reading for families earlier that day.

Mid-week, audiences attended a 4K screening of Tony Bui’s Three Seasons followed by a Q&A with the director, and a video screening of Tuan Andrew Nguyen’s The Island at the Smithsonian American Art Museum, accompanied by a curator talk with Saisha Grayson.

Vietnam Week closed with Shared Roots, Shared Future, a youth forum at the U.S. Institute of Peace, where Vietnamese and Vietnamese American young professionals reflected on reconciliation, leadership, and cross-cultural collaboration.

Highlights

• Oct 4: Vietnamese Night at the Museum & Road to Infinity concert

• Oct 5: Book talk with Phuc Tran and Elizabeth Ai; Cranky Kids’ Corner

• Oct 6: 4K screening of Three Seasons with director Tony Bui

• Oct 8: The Island screening and curator talk with Saisha Grayson

• Oct 11: Shared Roots, Shared Future youth dialogue at USIP