Announcement of the Recipients of the 2025 Lebadang Creative Arts Grant
The Lebadang Creative Arts Fund would like to extend its deepest gratitude to all applicants who participated in and accompanied the organising committee throughout this journey. We are honoured to once again recognise the recipients of the 2025 Lebadang Creative Arts Grant – a programme established to acknowledge and support outstanding practices in artistic creation, research, conservation, and the development of the arts community in Vietnam.
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Creative Practice Category: Visual artist Le Giang and installation artist Le Tan Chung
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Research Category: Writer To Nguyen Nhat Anh
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Young Leadership Category: Graduate Le Thi Ngoc Phung
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Myshu Award 2025, established and sponsored by the Lebadang Memory Space: Scholar Vu Do
Through the 2025 Lebadang Creative Arts Grant, we seek to continue fostering an artistic ecosystem in which creative practice, research, education, and conservation may coexist in mutual dialogue and nourishment. The Lebadang Creative Arts Fund warmly invites the public to follow the ongoing development of these projects in the coming months. Upcoming residencies, research initiatives, artistic productions, and scholarly presentations will be progressively updated through the Fund’s official platforms.
About the winners
Visual Artist Le Giang
Visual Artist Le Giang received her Bachelor’s degree from the Vietnam University of Fine Arts and a Master’s degree from the University of the Arts London. Her practice investigates the complex relationships between human beings, artificial elements, and the natural world. Selected exhibitions include the group exhibition Toả 5 at VCCA, Hanoi (2025); the Asia Pacific Triennial at QAGOMA, Australia (2024); her solo exhibition Future Completed at VCCA, Hanoi (2022); Art Basel Hong Kong (2022); and the Asian Art Biennial Phantasmapolis in Taiwan (2021). In recognition of her contributions to contemporary art, she was named in the Vietnamese edition of Forbes “30 Under 30” in 2018.
Landscape Architect and Installation Artist Le Tan Chung
Landscape Architect and Installation Artist Le Tan Chung is recognised for a practice rooted in attentive listening to place and to the memories embedded within space. His notable achievements include First Prize at Transforming the Runway, organised by the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) in collaboration with the Singapore Institute of Planners (SIP) and the Singapore Institute of Architects (SIA); First Prize at the 33rd Loa Thành Awards; and the Silver Prize in the Emerging Artist category at the 3rd UOB Painting of the Year.
Writer and Independent Researcher To Nguyen Nhat Anh
Writer and Independent Researcher To Nguyen Nhat Anh is based in Ho Chi Minh City. She holds a dual Bachelor’s degree in English Literature and Communication from Denison University, and a Master’s degree in Comparative Literature from University College London. Her research practice focuses on examining modern and contemporary affective structures through narrative forms ranging from literature and cinema to painting and visual art.
Le Thi Ngoc Phung
Le Thi Ngoc Phung is currently a student in Art and Media Studies at Fulbright University Vietnam. She has accumulated diverse experiences spanning film production, teaching assistance, and programme management for film festivals. Alongside this, she has explored performative practices through Project Đẩy Sàn – Dựng 1 in Vietnam and an artist residency programme at the Birmingham Botanical Gardens. These experiences have shaped her sustained engagement with the visual arts.
Scholar Vu Do
Scholar Vu Do is an art conservator, artist, and independent researcher. He currently serves as the Gretchen & David Welch Fellow in Object Conservation at the National Museum of Asian Art. He received a Fulbright scholarship to pursue a Master’s degree in Art Conservation at SUNY Buffalo State University, and completed professional internships at the National Gallery of Art (Washington, D.C.), Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum, and Smithsonian National Museum of Asian Art. He is also the discoverer, conservator, and curator of the “Hidden Treasures” collection by Phan Ke An. Following the completion of his graduate studies, Vu hopes to contribute to the advancement of conservation practice in Vietnam, with the long-term goal of establishing the country’s first interdisciplinary conservation training programme.
About the Fund
Founded in 2015 in accordance with the wishes of the late master Lebadang, the Fund is dedicated to empowering emerging scholars, creative labourers, and leaders. Its mission is to foster creative growth, carry forward artistic legacies, and strengthen the presence of Vietnamese art in the global arena.
Key Milestones
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Fund's Founding Council
People’s Artist, Film Director - Former Chairman
Đặng Nhật Minh
Đặng Nhật Minh is one of the most prominent names in Vietnamese cinema, born into an intellectual family: his father was Professor, Doctor Đặng Văn Ngữ, and his mother was Tôn Nữ Thị Cung. With over half a century in filmmaking, he has left a profound mark with When the Tenth Month Comes (1984), hailed by CNN as one of the 18 best Asian films of all time, and The Town Within Reach (1983, Golden Lotus Award).
Renowned for his refined and lyrical style, Minh’s films often intertwine the fate of individuals – especially women – with that of the nation and its spiritual life. His most internationally acclaimed film, Nostalgia for Countryland (1995), was awarded at Rotterdam, Nantes, Namur, Fribourg, and other major international festivals.
Historian -
Chairman
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Dương Trung Quốc
Dương Trung Quốc is a distinguished Vietnamese historian, journalist, and cultural figure. He served as Secretary-General of the Vietnam Association of Historical Sciences (2005–2010) and as Editor-in-Chief of Past & Present magazine, dedicating many years to historical research and the preservation of Vietnam’s cultural heritage, especially in Hanoi.
He has been active in numerous social and cultural organizations, including the Central Committee of the Vietnam Fatherland Front, the Vietnam Union of Friendship Organizations, and as Chairman of the UNESCO Association of Hanoi. As a National Assembly Deputy representing Đồng Nai for four consecutive terms (XI–XIV), he was widely recognized for his candid and incisive speeches on social and legal issues.
Writer -
Vice Chairman
Tô Nhuận Vỹ
Tô Nhuận Vỹ is a writer and member of the Vietnam Writers’ Association since 1976. He has held several key positions in cultural and artistic institutions, including Chairman of the Bình Trị Thiên Literature and Arts Association, Editor-in-Chief of Sông Hương magazine, Director of Thừa Thiên Huế’s Department of Foreign Affairs, and member of the Vietnam Writers’ Association’s External Relations Committee.
His works include the short story collections The Perfume River People, The Island Village Child, The Awakening Village, and the novels The Calm River, The Suburb, Beyond the Horizon, and The Remote Region. His writings, often adapted into films, explore war, postwar life, and social conflicts in southern Vietnam after 1975. In 2012, he was awarded the State Prize for Literature and the Arts, affirming his stature as one of Vietnam’s leading contemporary literary voices.
Vice Chairwoman
Lê Cẩm Tế
Lê Cẩm Tế worked closely with artist Lebadang for over a decade and later became the initiator and founder of the Lebadang Memorial Space in Thừa Thiên Huế. Following the artist’s passing in 2015, she devoted her energy to realizing his lifelong dream of creating an art space “open to infinity and closed in profound depth.”
In 2016, she completed the memorial complex on an area of more than 16,000 m², now housing nearly 300 artworks, artifacts, and sketches. The site has since become a significant destination for preserving and promoting the legacy of Lebadang, one of Vietnam’s foremost modern artists.
Fund's Board of Directors
Architect
Hồ Viết Vinh
Hồ Viết Vinh is an architect, researcher, and lecturer with over 26 years at the University of Architecture, Ho Chi Minh City. He graduated in Architecture in 1995 and earned a Master’s degree in Urban Planning from the University of Montréal, Canada, in 2001. He won Second Prize (1998) and Special Prize (2005) in international competitions organized by Cergy Pontoise, France, and in 2010 joined the International Visiting Scholarship program on Sustainable Urban Planning in the United States.
His notable works, often integrating cultural heritage with contemporary design, include the Lê Bá Đảng Memorial Space, the Trịnh Công Sơn Music Space (Huế), the Ngũ Hành Sơn Scenic Area (Đà Nẵng), the Sài Gòn–Chợ Lớn–Gia Định Temple (Ho Chi Minh City), the National Convention Center Villa Complex (Hanoi), and the Dã Viên Millennium Garden (Huế).
Director
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Vũ Trung Kiên
Vũ Trung Kiên, a graduate of Ho Chi Minh City University of Technology, is Director of Mỹ Cư Communication & Interior Design Co., Ltd. and Deputy Director of Khánh An Film Studio (KAF).
He is co-founder and Deputy Director of the Lê Bá Đảng Memorial Space.
Curator
Vice Chairman
Ace Lê
Ace Lê is a curator and art researcher specializing in Vietnamese art. In 2022, he became Sotheby’s first Vietnam Country Head, curating groundbreaking exhibitions such as Timeless Souls, Stranger Shores (2022), Distant Dreams (2023), and Heaven, Mountains, Rivers (2025). He is Founding Director of Lân Tinh Foundation, Editor-in-Chief of Art Republik Vietnam, and advisory board member for the UOB Painting of the Year Award, Vincom Center for Contemporary Art, and the Vietnam Contemporary Art Database Project.
He received the Platform Projects Curatorial Award (2020) and was an International Arts Leaders Fellow (Australia Council for the Arts, 2022–23) and Research Fellow at Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art (QAGOMA). He holds dual Master’s degrees in Museum & Curatorial Studies and in Journalism & Media Studies from Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, and a Bachelor’s in Business Administration from National University of Singapore.
Vice Chairwoman
Hoàng Thị Lê Phương
Hoàng Thị Lê Phương is a fashion designer. She graduated in Applied Arts from the University of Fine Arts, Huế, and in Fashion Design from the First Media Design Academy, Singapore.
She previously lectured at Hue College and is currently Deputy Director of the LebadangMemorial Space.
