The Gia Lai provincial authorities have issued a plan for the 2026-2030 scheme to preserve and uphold gong cultural space, with an international gong festival in the fourth quarter as a highlight to spread the Central Highlands’ unique cultural identity to domestic and foreign audiences.

A gong performance by ethnic minority people in the Central Highlands.

Set against the vibrant backdrop of Pleiku, the festival will welcome delegations from across Gia Lai, other Vietnamese localities and a selection of Asian nations. It will not only honour the heritage value of gong cultural space but also serve as a cultural diplomatic activity.

In recent years, Gia Lai has pursued tangible steps to transform gong culture into a distinctive cultural – tourism product. The weekly “Weekend Gong – Enjoy and Experience” event has become a staple, staging performances every Saturday evening at Dai Doan Ket and Nguyen Tat Thanh squares, among other venues.

The Gia Lai Ethnic Cultural Festival, scheduled for this April, will convene artisans from diverse ethnic groups to perform gong music and breathe fresh life into age-old festival traditions, thereby spreading heritage values in contemporary life.

This year, several traditional rituals and festivals of ethnic communities will be restored, enriched by the digitalisation of archival materials, to preserve every nuance of their authentic cultural essence for generations to come.

Notably, training classes on gong playing, tuning, and conservation will roll out for Bahnar, Jrai, Cham, and H’re groups and ethnic boarding and semi-boarding secondary and high schools throughout the province.

At the same time, Gia Lai will upgrade exhibits on the gong cultural space at the Pleiku Museum, adopting digital tools such as virtual reality and QR codes to boost interactivity during the National Tourism Year 2026.

From community-level events to those with international reach, Gia Lai is reaffirming its commitment to cherishing and championing the gong space – a hallmark of Central Highlands ethnic groups, while quietly establishing the province as a destination of profound cultural richness and sharing the soulful allure of the highlands amid Vietnam’s journey of integration and progress.

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