We invite you to “pack your backpack,” step into the role of a curious little bee, and go searching for the Host “flowers” that call to you most
The Host flowers have brought their unique scents and colours to the Learning City. This is your time to wander, explore, and choose a learning journey that feels calling to you.
As a participant, you are like a bee in search of sweet nectar —visiting many flowers and cross-pollinating along the way. You are privileged to explore the treasures shared by our HOSTS—generous individuals who offer the community their stories, passions, lived experiences, as well as their precious time and spaces.
All activities at the festival are collective gifts. You are free to choose and open any gift you wish. Before deciding, take a moment to listen and notice which gift is calling your name.
You may register for multiple activities throughout the day and freely move to another activity whenever you wish (even in the middle of a session). This is the “Law of Mobility”—a core principle of the festival. It reminds you that you always have freedom within this vast learning space.
When you join an activity, be present, attentive, and actively contribute. That is how you offer your own gift. Ask yourself:
“Am I contributing to this learning space?”
“Can I take responsibility for my choice?”
These questions will help you reflect on where you need to be and when it might be time to move on. Freedom becomes the motivation for commitment and the practice of responsibility.
Before moving on, take time to observe fully and challenge yourself—this might be an opportunity to step beyond your limits. Try engaging with a challenging topic, or doing something you have never done before, and commit to seeing it through.
There is no single right answer. Each of us carries our own way of learning. That is why we choose to embrace diversity and the boundless nature of each person’s learning journey. At the Da Nang – The Learning City, learning appears in many forms. It is not limited to academics alone, but unfolds through storytelling, film screenings and conversations, tree planting, baking, coffee brewing, outdoor walks, movement, and more.
Learning is an act of engagement. It happens when learners use all their senses to experience, feel, participate, and be present – not only to think. Learning becomes most natural, creative, and deep when it is not constrained. This is where we truly get to ask ourselves what is calling us, and make our own choices about what we want to learn.
We warmly invite people of all ages, backgrounds, fields, and abilities to take part in and co-create Da Nang – The Learning City together.
In particular, we hope to create space for local and indigenous knowledge to be continued, shared, and made more visible. Such knowledge as traditional crafts, manual skills, hands-on work passed down through generations of our ancestors has gradually been marginalised as modern knowledge has taken over nowadays.
This festival is also an invitation to experiment:
...to try new ways of learning,
...to share with others about a topic you care deeply about,
...to host a dialogue circle,
...to co-create learning spaces where many voices can join, not just one person speaking,
...to listen closely to what is emerging from the learning process,
...to meet new people,
...to start a project or a new initiative,
...to discover something new within the ordinary, repetitive rhythms of everyday life.
In particular, we invite you to harvest everyone’s learning journey. How can you all harvest the personal and collective learnings creatively? What should be harvested are the important elements: lessons learned, ideas, stories, meanings, questions, and newly emerging insights… Harvesting creates space to deepen our learning experiences, and also becomes a way to carry and share these stories with the wider community. Forms of harvesting could be such as dancing, composing poems, songs, storytelling, acting, and more.
Learn more and sign up as a bee for any session you are interested in Learning City here
Facebook: Vcil Living Lab Da Nang or Vcil Community
Phone/Zalo: 0856699117 (Linh) – 0905044600 (Minh)
Whatsapp: +660802806654 (Linh)
Email: livinglab@vcil.education
This event will use the diversity and wealth of the community to transform the city into a Festival of Learning