“HERITAGE AVENUE” - INTERNATIONAL ART PERFORMANCE FOR THE UNITED NATIONS VESAK 2019 CELEBRATION

Presented as part of the United Nations Day of Vesak 2019, Heritage Avenue was more than an international artistic performance. It was conceived as a cultural encounter where Buddhist traditions from across Asia could meet through the language of heritage. For Dream Studio, the project also represented a unique opportunity to introduce the richness of Vietnamese culture to an international audience at an event of global significance.

Rather than following the format of a conventional festival performance, Dream Studio approached the production as a cultural journey told through space, music, and movement.. The program unfolded in two chapters: Việt Nam - Đất Phật ngàn năm (Buddha Land for Thousands of Years) and Đại lộ di sản (Heritage Avenue). Together, they guided audiences from the story of Buddhism's deep integration into Vietnamese culture to a broader dialogue among the intangible cultural heritages of Asia.

The performance took place at Tam Chuc Pagoda Square, an extraordinary natural setting embraced by ascending limestone mountains and overlooking a vast lake surrounded by dramatic peaks. While the venue offered a spectacular backdrop, it also presented significant production challenges. Within such a large-scale outdoor environment, Dream Studio had to ensure a compelling visual experience for both the live audience and television broadcast. Every stage, lighting, and projection solution was therefore developed in harmony with the creative narrative while maximizing the site's natural beauty. Instead of concealing the architecture behind massive LED screens, the production treated the Tam Chuc landscape itself as an essential part of the stage design.

The program brought together more than 300 Buddhist monks and nuns, 120 Vietnamese performers, and eight international artistic delegations, with thousands of participants involved overall. All performances presented at the Heritage Avenue showcased a UNESCO-recognized intangible cultural heritage, carefully selected for its artistic value and suitability for a monumental outdoor setting. From Odissi dance from India, Awa Odori from Japan, and the Drum Dance of Drametse from Bhutan to Vietnam's Lục cúng hoa đăng ritual performance, every heritage presentation retained its authenticity while being woven into a unified artistic language through cohesive staging, visual design, and emotional storytelling.

For Dream Studio, the greatest achievement of Heritage Avenue was not its scale or the number of performers involved, but its ability to create a shared cultural space where traditions from different nations could coexist, engage in dialogue, and shine together. During the opening ceremony of United Nations Vesak 2019, heritage was no longer presented as a reflection of the past, but transformed into a living experience that connected thousands of spectators through the shared cultural values of humanity.