Nguyen Ba Hoc Cultural Center

Trung Tam Van Hoa Nguyen Ba Hoc, Little Saigon's first cultural center, was established in May 1999 as a place "where people could come, meet, and exchange ideas and culture," according to founder Peter Nguyen. Its focus is on preserving and transmitting Vietnamese culture to the next generation.

Presently the center offers Vietnamese language classes, traditional martial arts, after-school tutoring, art and folk music classes. Plans for the future include computer training, English courses for adults, and the establishment of a small library. The Southeast Asian Archive is working with the center to establish the library, which will be linked through the Internet with the Archive's web page.

The Archive is also co-sponsoring an exhibition of paintings created by Vietnamese refugee artists while detained in Hong Kong refugee camps. These paintings are part of the Project Ngoc collection, which was donated to the Southeast Asian Archive by the UCI student group when it disbanded in 1997. The public is invited to the opening of the exhibition, which will be held on Saturday, November 6, 3:00-7:00 PM, at the Nguyen Ba Hoc Cultural Center, 14072 Chestnut Street, Westminster. For information call Anne Frank, (949) 824-4968 or Peter Nguyen, (714) 652-3898.