Surinam

Country and people

At the end of the Second Anglo-Dutch War in 1667, the Netherlands ceded New Amsterdam (New York) in exchange for Surinam. Surinam became a Dutch colony and is now the only Dutch-speaking country on the continent of South America. As happened in all of the Caribbean, many people either came or were brought to Surinam. Some of them developed roots in their new country, whereas in other cases whole generations continued to other destinations. Those who stayed, built a multicultural society.

Surinam counts approximately 400,00 inhabitants, half of them lives in its capital Paramaribo. In the city the most considerable groups are:

Hindus (35%)
Afro-Surinamese (32%)
Javanese (15%)
Indians (2,5%)
Chinese (2%)
Maroons (2%)

Growing nationalism since the Second World War resulted in Independence in 1975. Part of the development of the independent state was the development of the typically Surinamese "politics of reconciliation". When the Directorate of Culture was founded in 1980, the need to become familiar with each other’s culture was formulated as one of its goals.
Attempts to discuss art in the multicultural setting of Surinam reveal different outlooks. Which cultural expressions should be considered art? Where does craft end and art begin?

Amateur arts

Surinamese have no specific definition for amateur arts. For them the word amateur arts has the negative sound of amateurism. Still there are numerous groups and individuals who practice art ‘for leisure’, ‘as a hobby’ or ‘at festive occasions’. These practitioners outnumber the professional artists if you follow the western definition of professional artists, because nobody can live from his artworks. Therefore in Surinam a strict separation between professional and amateur art is not relevant.

Art plays an important role in the identity of different sections in the community. You can hear the Afro-Surinam tradition in the Kawina-music, see the Javanese in the Jawa-doll and Gamelan and the Hindu tradition in Baithakgana.

As far as the practice of the different disciplines is concerned, Surinam does not differ much from Europe. There is a lot of music, e.g. different ensembles, choirs and brass bands, organised writers and visual artists, theatre (mainly folk theatre) and the art of dance.

Organisation

In 1998, visual artists working in Surinam organised themselves in the FVAS, the Federation of Visual Artists in Surinam. FVAS is not only active in Surinam, but also internationally; it organised the Surinamese participation in the Fourth Caribbean Biennial in Santo Domingo.
Some amateur writers are united in the Writers group ’77. Once a month this group has a literary evening in the art pub Tori Hoso and it has a radio programme on SRS (Surinam Radio Foundation).

In Surinam there is no umbrella organisation for the arts. They have a Management of Arts, part of the Ministry of Science and Culture, but although the intention is good there is no money for the organisation of arts.

The world outside is enormously attractive, especially for the younger generation in this small country, and so people keep leaving. But with all that coming and leaving, international exchange in the arts has become important, also for those who have stayed in Surinam.