Vietnam Society

03/09/2026

🎬☀️📚Summer School, 2001 is coming to the big screen at Avalon Theatre on Wednesday, March 11th!

Set in the summer heat of 2001, the film follows Kien, a 17-year-old returning to his Vietnamese family in the Czech border town of Cheb after a decade away. A coming-of-age story told from inside the Vietnamese community in the Czech Republic.

The Vietnamese & Czech film (with English subtitles) starts at 7:30 p.m., and join us afterwards for a live Q&A session with director Dužan Duong (). 🎤💬

Presented in collaboration with the Embassy of the Czech Republic () and Reel Citrus ().

❗️ONE SHOW ONLY❗️

🎟️➡️ Purchase you tickets via link in bio or visit
theavalon.org/films/summer-school-2001/

03/08/2026

Join us for this special screening of Summer School, 2001! 🎬☀️📚

This Czech-Vietnamese story is brought to the DC, Maryland, and Virginia Vietnamese community ahead of its theatrical run this summer.

📍Avalon Theatre
🕢 Wednesday, March 11th @ 7:30 p.m.
💬 Post-screening Q&A session with director Dužan Duong ()
🎟️ Tickets can be purchased with the link in bio or visit theavalon.org/films/summer-
school-2001/

Presented in collaboration with the Embassy of the Czech Republic () and Reel Citrus ().

02/22/2026

✨ What an unforgettable Tết celebration! ✨

Vietnam Society was honored to be part of the Smithsonian National Museum of Asian Art Lunar New Year celebration today, and what a smashing success it was! Thousands of people gathered to experience Asian cultures at their best, with breathtaking performances, vibrant cultural displays, delicious cuisines, and engaging activities from across Asia. Vietnam Society presented a performance of Vietnamese Tết Ritual and Tray Dance and presented a display, activities and games that were enjoyed by all.

This marks our fourth year participating in this incredible program, and we are deeply grateful to the National Museum of Asian Art for such a wonderful partnership.

💛 A heartfelt thank you to our incredible partner Dr. Đoàn Thành Lộc from Nam Ngọc Hiên, whose brilliance and talents continue to amaze us each year. We also extend our deepest appreciation to our amazing event leaders Amanda Nguyen, Tram Nguyen, and Michele Hau for their extraordinary service and leadership; to our talented performers and dedicated volunteers, especially Chi Lan Vu and Kim Nguyen; and to everyone who came out to celebrate with us. Your energy and joy made this Tet truly special.

🎉 Chúc mừng năm mới! 🎉
May the new year bring health, happiness, and prosperity to all.

02/20/2026

Here are previews of our beautiful traditional dances for tomorrow’s lively Tết celebration! 🏮✨

We will be showcasing our traditional Vietnamese blessing ceremony, along with our elementary dance (múa mâm). There will also be hands-on festival crafts and activities for all ages! 🐴🔥

Start the new year with energy, beauty, and good fortune. This is one of the museum’s most anticipated celebrations of the year. The program is partly supported by Vietnam Airlines, our valued travel partner. Don’t miss it! 🧧🔥

02/18/2026

🏮 HAPPY LUNAR NEW YEAR 2026 (YEAR OF THE HORSE)
Peaceful Hearts – Steadfast Spirit 🐎🌸

On the morning of the first day of Tết, in the sacred moment when heaven and earth come into harmony, Vietnam Society warmly sends our New Year wishes to everyone and to the Vietnamese community in the United States and around the world:

✨ Good Fortune. Health & Prosperity

As spring light rises, we share our most sincere blessings with you all:

🌿 A Calm Mind. A Harmonious Home
May each of us keep a quiet, peaceful sky within; light at heart like an early spring morning. May we release the worries of the past year and carry forward kindness, clarity, and goodwill. Wishing every home warmth and harmony, friendships rooted in understanding and a year that flows with ease like a spring stream.

🤝 A Prayer for Culture and Peace
From the heart of Washington, D.C., Vietnam Society remains devoted to connecting Vietnamese hearts across generations. We pray that Vietnamese culture continues to thrive far from home, bridging past and future. May our community live in harmony and compassion, and may we together help build a peaceful world where human values are honored and uplifted.

🐎 Looking Ahead: Strength and Perseverance
As we step into the Year of the Horse, Vietnam Society reaffirms its commitment to serving as a steady bridge, advancing cultural ties with purpose and continuity. May your new plans begin with wisdom and achieve success through perseverance, strong and resilient like the horse galloping through spring winds.

Far from home, the Vietnamese spirit endures,
Life moves fast, yet bonds remain deep.
May peace grace the world we share,
And a thousand years of culture build living bridges.

Let us begin the year with a smile and walk through it with calm and grace.

🧧 Happy Lunar New Year 2026! Chúc Mừng Năm Mới! 🐎🌸

02/04/2026

Gallop into 2026, the year of the fire horse 🐴🔥 with a vibrant, joy-filled Tết celebration at the Smithsonian National Museum of Asian Art!
Witness a traditional Vietnamese blessing ceremony, be dazzled by the graceful and rarely seen tray dance (múa mâm), and dive into hands-on festival crafts and activities for all ages.
Start the new year with energy, beauty, and good fortune. This is one of the museum’s most anticipated celebrations of the year. The program is partly supported by Vietnam Airlines, our valued travel partner. Don’t miss it! 🧧🔥

📍Smithsonian Arts + Industries Building

⏰ 12 - 6 pm

🎟️ Register with the link in our bio

01/19/2026

Join our Tết at the Smithsonian: Celebrating Vietnamese Heritage event as a volunteer or model!

We're looking for 10 models, 6 women and 4 men, to perform traditional dances and blessing rituals on Feb 12th and 21st. Women will perform a traditional dance, while men will lead the blessing ritual.

Volunteers are needed on Feb 21st.

Please note that all positions are unpaid. Sign up through the link in our bio to participate. Thank you!

01/13/2026

DC Reads culminates with An Evening of DC Literary Voices! Join the Library and PEN/Faulkner Foundation for a conversation with authors K.T. Nguyen, Dolen Perkins-Valdez, and Nikki Payne, moderated by Lupita Aquino. Q&A and ASL interpretation included.

📅 Thursday, March 26

🕥 7-9 pm

📍 MLK Library

12/09/2025

**✨ NEW RELEASE ✨**

Vietnam Society is thrilled to celebrate the launch of a truly magnificent photographic journey by Peter Steinhauer:
***SPIRES: Cathedrals of Vietnam’s Red River Delta*** 📖

A visually stunning exploration of Vietnamese cathedrals that “fuse French Gothic and Romanesque influences with Eastern architectural traditions”, this book invites readers into a world where history, resilience, and creativity converge.

💬 **Nguyễn Phan Quế Mai** ():
“Peter has captured the history of survival, the resilience, and the creativity of Vietnamese people… this book is not only a great work of art, but also a testament to the beauty of my homeland.”

💬 **Hoàng Thúc Hào, Architect:**
“These hybrid structures combine the skyward verticality of European spires with the boat-shaped curves and horizontal lines of Southeast Asian construction.”

💬 **Writer Thúy Đinh:**
“A meticulous record of the cultural identity that straddles Southeast Asia and Western Europe.”

✨ **Signed copies now available** via MW Editions:
🔗 *mweditions.com/books/spires-cathedrals-of-vietnams-red-river-delta/*

Also in bookstores everywhere!!

Perfect gift for the holidays - Order now for Christmas! 🎁📚

11/12/2025

Come join us at Hanoi Studio for “Peter Steinhauer: Vietnam — A 30 Year Retrospective”, a photographic exhibition by our co-founder and award-winning artist photographer Peter Steinhauer.

Experience three decades of visual storytelling through Vietnam’s landscapes, architecture, and culture — from Ha Long Bay to Nhà Tập Thể.

📍 Opening: Nov 21 at Hanoi Studio Gallery, 5 PM
🎙️ Artist Talk & Book Signing: Nov 27 at Sofitel Metropole Hanoi, 5 PM
📘 Exhibition: “Cathedrals of the Red River Delta” runs at Sofitel from Nov 27 – Dec 31.

10/17/2025

On Sunday, October 12, 2025, Vietnam Society, the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library, and Columbia University’s Weatherhead East Asian Institute presented an in-depth exploration of The Tale of Kiều—a Vietnamese literary classic newly translated by Bình Nguyễn. The stimulating conversation between Bình Nguyễn and Vinh Quốc Nguyễn, moderated by Thuý Đinh, touched on salient cultural and linguistic issues via diverse translations of Kiều, from academic to more irreverent interpretations, by serious scholars as well as twenty-something translators, as well as the work’s enduring relevance in Vietnam and the diaspora.

Special thank you to our featured guest speakers, Bình Nguyễn and Vinh Quốc Nguyễn, and event leader/moderator, Thuý Đinh! Thank you to the Library for having us, along with everyone else who joined us!

10/17/2025