A mapping of cultural life across the six Dutch Caribbean islands — and the artists who answered one question in their own language.
This study explored how people across the ABCSSS islands engage with arts, culture and heritage in everyday life and aimed to identify appropriate methodologies for future cultural monitoring within the Caribbean part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands.
The research applied a context-sensitive mixed methods approach that combined desk research, surveys, focus groups, interviews, validation sessions, artistic contributions and broader community engagement across all six islands. In total, 581 surveys were conducted, complemented by focus groups and extensive conversations with more than 200 cultural practitioners, educators, policymakers, heritage professionals, NGOs, artists and community stakeholders.
This research began as an assignment fueled by passion and a shared commitment: to map cultural practices across our six Caribbean islands. Yet over time, it became something more. For us as a project team, it evolved into an invitation to listen more carefully and to recognize culture not as a fixed sector, but as a living ecosystem carried by creativity, memory, resilience and imagination.
— Jorien Wuite
The surveyed group showed that singing is the most widely practised activity on four of six islands.
The survey consisted of 25 questions, most of which were closed-ended. Across the six islands, the two open-ended questions generated 943 responses in total, which were coded into 14 thematic categories. The submissions were reviewed by a 7 member jury composed of representatives from all islands.
Six islands — the ABCSSS islands.
The ABCSSS islands: Aruba, Bonaire, Curaçao, Sint Maarten, Sint Eustatius and Saba. Click any island to jump to its profile.
Each number is the island's share of the 581 survey respondents conducted across the six islands.
Aruba presents a relatively broad exposure through music, dance, theater, visual arts and handcraft within the school setting.
The participation rates range from 54% on Bonaire to 90% on Saba. Bonaire presents the lowest secondary motivation rates across nearly all categories, which aligns with its high proportion of hobbyists (81%).
Cross-island variation is greatest in cinema attendance, where Curaçao (53%) and Aruba (42%) exceed the SSS islands. On Curaçao, income generation stands out as the distinctive secondary motivation, cited by 34% of respondents, which aligns with Curaçao's significantly higher rate of professional practitioners (33%).
St. Maarten recorded the highest funding challenge figure at 55%. The creative sector lacks the structural conditions needed to move from project-based work to sustainable livelihoods.
Information on programs, grants and support is not reaching the wider community. Heritage site visits are highest on St. Eustatius (46%).
In Saba 78% of respondents said they promote culture in their community, 57% volunteer, 52% organise events and 52% are members of cultural associations.
The discussions were organised around six clustered research domains: (1) cultural education and talent development, (2) amateur arts and community-based practices, (3) intangible cultural heritage, (4) participation in heritage and culture, (5) the role of NGOs and government and (6) the creative (orange) economy in relation to tourism and policy.
How culture is taught, learned and nurtured — in classrooms, studios and through mentorship.
Voluntary creative practices carried out during leisure time. These may include self-directed or organised activities such as music groups, theatre, visual arts classes or dance workshops, emphasizing personal engagement in the creative process.
Living traditions, knowledge and skills that communities recognize as part of their cultural identity, including oral traditions, rituals, performing arts and craftsmanship.
How residents attend, visit, volunteer and take part — festivals, concerts, cinema, heritage sites.
The role of NGOs and government in relation to arts and cultural practice across the ABCSSS islands.
The creative (orange) economy in relation to tourism and policy across the ABCSSS islands.
Arts and culture across the ABCSSS islands function as a "living vibration rooted in our Caribbean belly," as David Rudder's calypso powerfully captures. Culture is not confined to formal institutions, policy sectors, or artistic industries alone; it lives through language, memory, storytelling, music, food, ritual, movement and everyday social interaction.
Cultural life across the ABCSSS islands is sustained largely through community resilience and grassroots leadership. Many practitioners simultaneously function as creators, educators, organizers, fundraisers and advocates simply to sustain cultural life, much like a "jack of all trades." What is often celebrated as resilience also reflects structural absence.
"Gimme room to dance," a familiar expression within the Caribbean carnival space, becomes symbolic here, as it reflects a plea to clear the way so people can be free to dance. Communities are already creating, teaching, organizing and transmitting culture, often with limited means. What they increasingly demand is room: room to sustain culture, develop talent, safeguard heritage and build long-term cultural ecosystems on their own terms.
“Where does culture live?” — sixteen artists answer.
Each piece offers its own reflection to the question 'Where does culture live?' The works offered an impression of cultural life, highlighting everyday practices, identity, memory and different forms of expression. Across all islands, a total of 32 submissions were received, spanning visual art, photography, spoken word and multidisciplinary works. The submissions were reviewed by a 7 member jury composed of representatives from all islands.
It is recommended, first and foremost, to rethink arts and culture within the specific realities of the ABCSSS islands and the wider Caribbean context. This requires moving beyond narrow definitions of culture and instead examining how people in the Caribbean engage with culture, experience it and assign meaning to it — as "a living vibration." In the Caribbean, culture is deeply embedded in languages, food, music, oral traditions, spirituality, carnival, community-based practices and many other experiences shaped by regional histories, colonialism, transatlantic slavery, indentureship and migration. At the same time, these cultural realities are shaped by the constitutional, political and institutional framework within the Kingdom of the Netherlands. Future cultural policy and monitoring systems should therefore recognize this duality: simultaneously Caribbean and Kingdom-based. This implies the continuous development of culturally relevant domains, indicators and methodologies that reflect the lived realities of Caribbean societies rather than relying solely on particular models of "cultural measurement." In addition, there is a strong need to strengthen sustainable regional cultural networks and partnerships across the Caribbean, both within and beyond the Dutch Kingdom, including with South American countries and West African regions that share related historical and cultural trajectories.
The second recommendation builds upon the first. Based on the idea of a reconceptualization of what arts and culture could mean within the context of the ABCSSS islands, it opens up possibilities for developing a methodology that is more reflective of the lived realities, cultural expressions and social dynamics of the region. The findings of this study suggest that a contextual mixed methods approach is the most appropriate methodology for cultural monitoring within the ABCSSS islands. Similar to the methodology applied in this research, a phased design — combining desk research, focus groups, surveys, site visits and validation sessions — is essential to ensure that the monitoring process remains grounded in local realities and cultural dynamics. Particularly important is the inclusion of site visits and ethnographic observation, which create opportunities to directly observe everyday and lived cultural expressions that are often overlooked in standardized research. This approach recognizes that arts and culture within the Dutch Caribbean cannot be adequately understood through standardized quantitative indicators alone. Rather, cultural monitoring must incorporate both quantitative and qualitative methods that capture the relational, embodied, oral, performative and community-based dimensions of cultural life.
It is proposed that this cultural monitoring cycle be repeated every three to five years. Each completed cycle would contribute to a progressively deeper understanding of the cultural ecosystem of the islands and support the development of increasingly refined and appropriate methodologies for the region. Culture is never static — cultural expressions, technologies, social practices and creative industries continuously evolve, and monitoring systems must therefore remain flexible and adaptive. The findings further suggest that in areas where data is particularly lacking, such as the creative industries or digital culture, more exploratory research processes may initially be required to establish usable baseline understandings. A long-term commitment to monitoring will allow policymakers, cultural practitioners and communities to track change over time and to respond more effectively to evolving needs. Repeating the research also creates opportunities for genuine co-ownership: for communities to see the findings return, to validate them and to shape the questions that come next. Over time, this iterative process will strengthen the cultural monitoring system itself and deepen the shared understanding of where culture lives across the islands.
Ministry of Education, Culture and Science (OCW), with RCN.
Lemonade BV.
Jorien Wuite · Gregory Richardson · Ludmila Duncan · Elton Villarreal.
Maria-Liz "Liesje" · Ashayna · Sharifa · Paula · Elton · Gregory · Ludmila · Lara.
Boekman Stichting · NAAM · University of St. Martin.
Rainier Kock.
Chaired by Jerry Gumbs — seven members representing all six islands.
