Tòhe Play is a component of the Tòhe organization in Vietnam and provides art activities to encourage children to experience and discover themselves through art. Trang teaches art classes at three different levels for children age 4-6, age 7-11, and age 12-15, and organizes community art events for children.
Her focus is installation art created by children, which she has named KIDSTALLATION as a combination of “kids” and “installation art.” KIDSTALLATION provides a unique opportunity for children to experience installation art creation, an art form that is both complex and educational but is presented in a way that is approachable for children.
Using her awarded YSEALI project stipend, Trang has been able to secure facilities needed for the art classes along with redecorating the new art rooms and purchasing art supplies. The funding has also been instrumental in promoting enrollment through online marketing about the installation art offerings. She is particularly interested in making art accessible to disadvantaged children in rural areas who might otherwise have less access to art education compared to children living in major cities.
Five-Year Project Goals:
- Provide art courses to kids and adults in the cities of Hanoi and Danang
- Become a pioneer of organized art events for kids and families in Vietnam
- Use profits to construct two free art playgrounds for disadvantaged kids
Organization Information: Tòhe
Website: http://www.tohe.vn/en/
Tòhe is a social enterprise in Vietnam that provides a creative learning playground for disadvantaged children to play and learn in a different academic setting. Selected artworks from art classes has been redesigned and printed on lifestyle products such as: clothes, accessories, housewares, toys… branded under the name Tòhe and distributed both in Vietnam and internationally. Portion of profits are used to fund the creative class & scholarship program for talented children. Tòhe also wants to demonstrate to these children that creative work can be a potential career for those who are talented. Creative work also creates economic value and is becoming a new trend of international economy (creative economy).
In designing Tòhe products we explore the innocent beauty, free coloring and infinite imagination of the children paintings. Made from eco-friendly materials with simple and modern design and child-like sensitivities, Tòhe's products are unique. Moreover, the paintings of disadvantaged children reflect their optimism and love of life. This is the humane aspect of Tòhe stories: difficulties and deprivations cannot hinder the spirit, the soul and the imagination.
Tòhe's founders would like to encourage more innocent and care-free approaches to life in a world with more sincere, equal and helpful relationships among people. We will try our best to bring as many Tòhe products to consumers as possible in our effort to spread and nurture the innocence and pure joy of children that many of us lack because of the worries and pressures of adult life.
Tòhe is named after a Vietnamese traditional toy made from rice flour and natural colours, which, once it has been used as a plaything, can also be eaten. Our project aims to be like a toy in creating opportunities for children to play while generating income to improve their life.