Project Helps Vietnam Mountainous Students to Create Artworks

High school students from the northern province of Lao Cai’s Vocational Education and Training Center are creating artworks by themselves using technology for the first time. Bui Thi Mai Hanh, Trinh Trung Thanh, and Nguyen Long Vu performed as professional virtual reality artists at the Art and Culture Education in the Digital Era project’s closing ceremony at the weekend at the South Korean Cultural Centre in Hanoi. "It was very useful to gain access to technology," said Hanh at the ceremony on Saturday. "It is new for us and I never thought that I could create artworks like drawing logos and using virtual reality technology to play music." The event also included artworks made by the students. The project was carried out by the Korea Arts & Culture Education Service (KACES) to train the students how to use artificial intelligence (AI) to create art. “I’m very satisfied with the project’s result,” said Park Iljun, one of three Korean teachers helping Lao Cai students to learn about AI. “Digital tools help people in remote and mountainous areas to access art easily.” KASES started a five-year project in 2013 to provide arts and culture education programs for elementary and middle school students as well as training programs for teachers to enhance their creativity and to share pedagogies in Sa Pa, Lao Cai Province. "The project is an opportunity for the students to know more about art," said Nguyen DinH Sung, head of Ban Pho High School in Bac Ha District. "It will orient their job paths to become artists, photographers or Vietnamese and Korean culture researchers in the future." The project was launched to train art and culture in public schools and communities. It is international project and funded by the Korean Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism. Vietnam is the first recipient and Indonesia is the second this year. (Vietnam News Nov 26)