This past July, artist and 2021 Collective Futures Fund grantee Ngoc-Tran Vu celebrated thirty years in the United States with her family. Just weeks later, she was in Vietnam again, on a group pilgrimage through the country’s sites of loss and suffering, tracing the timeline of the Vietnam War. For Vu, each visit to Vietnam is different, because each time she is different. “Certain information is only available to me depending on the growth in my life,” she shares.

Be the Change is a 2022-2023 art and activism initiative that is inspired by the Jewish tenet of justice and drawing from the ritualistic Jewish Tzedakah box. Taking place in Boston, Cincinnati, L.A., and online, Be the Change will help viewers connect to issues of injustice and empower them to become agents of change.

Balancing artistic and consultant projects while renovating my website/branding and honing in on a creative long-term vision I want to commit for the next three years. I am also traveling to Vietnam – my native homeland – this summer to do a pilgrimage on healing and reconciliation with a progressive group of learners, educators and creatives representing the Vietnamese diaspora from the US and within Vietnam. I am excited but also nervous at the same time as we will be honoring much that has transpired regarding the legacy of war, intergenerational trauma and postcolonialism  ✨

Millennials live differently than previous generations of Americans. We stay single longer. More of us have student debt and are self-employed, freelancers, and members of the growing gig economy. According to Randstad’s research on the workplace, more than half of Americans will be self-employed by 2025. More than 40% of gig workers will be millennials, a figure that will likely grow given the size of the generation and its youth. Millennials are the largest demographic in American history. We are the future…

In thinking around this concept of creative resiliency, for artists, in a way, we kind of know what it’s like to hustle and make things out even though the path isn’t known. A lot of this, people already know. People have lived experience too, especially for artists of color, artists who are immigrants and identify as being a refugee. People know how to make things work. People know what it means to be resilient.

We often hear of the iconic foods that Boston is known for but what about underrepresented foods that are quite popular (and tasty) yet do not get enough coverage? For the “Tasteful Boston” public art project, I wanted to amplify the richness of ethnic and cultural foods within local communities. As a Vietnamese American artist who grew up in Dorchester with my family, I was also interested in representing the vibrant flavors for residents who identify as immigrants and refugees. I wanted to showcase foods such as bánh mì, roti, plantains, etc. because these foods represent the dynamic and resilient stories of families and individuals as part of the Boston fabric.

“Thinking about resources, sharing, and accessibility—why do certain communities have more than others? Engaging in the free and sharing economy, that is very important in all my work.” These words from multimedia artist Ngoc-Tran Vu were echoing in my mind after she and I spoke about what drives her as an artist and human.

Mural celebrates the Vietnamese journey in Dorchester

Hundreds of people gathered in Fields Corner on Sunday to watch as a colorful new mural celebrating the city’s Vietnamese community was unveiled on the side of Pho Hoà Restaurant on Dorchester Avenue…