Open Call Slavery Memorial Year: 54 awards

A National Commemoration Committee 160 Years Abolition of Slavery will organise a programme with information, awareness and commemoration to reflect on 160 years of the abolition of slavery in Curaçao, with Emancipation and Healing as focus points.

IJswater Films, in co-production with Tulsa Studio’s, is developing the historical film ‘I will be heard’, which tells the story of Dutch writer, activist and resistance fighter Anton de Kom, author of the book ‘We slaves of Suriname’.

Under the motto ‘Turn your heritage into art’, Ruben La Cruz and Karolien Helweg will incorporate their findings from their research into the history of slavery in Bonaire into an installation/work of art that they will create together with the residents of Bonaire and Rincon, in a yet to be determined place in the public space of Rincon. Bonairean rock will play a leading role as basic material.

Part of Saramaka and Dutch history is anchored in songs. Place names and personal names are remembered in Saramaka through songs and stories. Artist collective Totomboti and artist Marjet Zwaans will produce new work that resonates with these songs and historical places. The oral sources are leading and are supported by written sources and utensils. Anchoring songs is also linked to the current land rights issue of indigenous and tribal peoples in Suriname and to the way of life of the Saramaka people with the rainforest.

Luci is a hybrid project that combines documentary, fiction and visual experimentation and takes the form of both a short film and a video installation. It is a search for the memory and legacy of the great-great-grandfather of performer and co-director Mathieu Wijdeven, the Surinamese artist G.G.T. Rustwijk, pseudonym “Luci” (1862-1914). Historical locations, site-specific performances, text, interviews and reinvented archive material are used to search for Rustwijk’s ‘light’ and what remains of it in contemporary Suriname.

The ultimate goal is a short film of the previously made installation, in which scenes from the film are cut and projected on multiple screens. In this way, Mathieu and Mateo want to elaborate on the story of G.G.T. Rustwijk, the search for him but also to appeal to collective responsibility, as a society, with regard to the colonial and slavery past.

What is the effect of centuries of divide and conquer politics on the way in which different population groups in Suriname interact with one another? How is this seen generations later in the Netherlands? In the hybrid podcast, a prominent Javanese, Hindustani, Afro-Surinamese person and a Chinese person discuss shared and internalised racism. Rakesh Kanhai is making a podcast about this and is looking for typical culturally rooted thoughts and statements among Surinamers that are actually remnants of slavery and colonialism.

How free are you to be free? The answer to that question is not the same for everyone. Free to be Free is a location performance by SoM about freedom and resistance. The performance is performed as a theatrical city walk in which the audience is taken along iconic places that are connected to the colonial history of the various cities. Local, underexposed narratives alternate with scenes and interventions involving dance, poetry, live music and installation art.

Nos no ta papia di e kosnan aki/ We don’t talk about those things is a cinematographic depiction (film + photo series) of the journey of Soraya Pol and her grandmother Rosa (95). A visual portal that opens up an experience of the contemporary physical and emotional consequences of the Afro-Caribbean slavery history on the Antillean community.

In Sint-Michielsgestel (North Brabant) more than 60 Javanese contract workers are buried at the public cemetery on Nieuwstraat. According to the foundation, few people are aware of this. With the project, STICHJI wants to remove the unknown, because they are tangible traces of an important period in the colonial history of the Netherlands. They do this, among other things, by developing a book and memorial plaque.

With the history of slavery project in Rancho Oranjestad Aruba (20 to 27 April 2023), the Rancho Foundation, as the initiator of the celebration of 200 years of Oranjestad, wants to pay attention to the origins and history of the slavery past in the Rancho Oranjestad Aruba. The historical facts and developments that have emerged from the 200-year relationship with the Kingdom of the Netherlands are underexposed. The reason is that there is very little locally written information is available. Through desk research, interviews, conversations and group meetings, residents are involved in the development and compilation of information for the future.

With the project ‘Slavery and freedom: 150 years of emancipation, commemoration, healing and recovery’, The Black Archives investigates issues surrounding the impact of the colonial and slavery past, and in particular the issue of ‘reparatory justice’, about healing and restoring the inequality that stems from the slavery past through participatory research and art. Results of the research will be made accessible to the public through two pop-up exhibitions and a larger exhibition.

Untold applied for the theatre performance Kormantse. This performance is about the slavery past of the Kormant peoples who came from Ghana to Curaçao and Suriname. With this performance, Untold aims to generate more knowledge and awareness for the underexposed history of the Trans-Atlantic Slavery history of Surinamese and Curaçaoans in particular. Kormantse is a historical performance in which the Kromanti (Kumanti) people and their spirituality, heritage and culture are central. It will start in the Kormantse area (Ghana), after which various leaders of uprisings in Haiti, Jamaica, Guyana and finally Suriname will be presented.

The literary project ‘Transatlantic Relatives’ by Wintertuin Curaçao about the common history, the present and the future of Curaçao and Ghana aims to create a digital platform on which writers, poets, rappers and spoken word artists reflect on the history of slavery and look ahead through new work.

Africadelic is an annual festival held on and around International Africa Day (25 to 30 May), celebrating the diversity, creativity and vigour of Africa and the African diaspora. The Africadelic Festival is an homage to the motherland, its cultural wealth, and the influence that Afrodescendants – people of African origin – have on global culture and society.

The five-day festival focuses on artistic expression and social criticism through music, film and other art forms. Every year, discussions at Africadelic also offer a topical perspective of the state of affairs regarding Africa and the African diaspora.
The festival welcomes a host of performers, while other changemakers of African origin discuss a wide range of subjects that are relevant to the continent and the diaspora. Africadelic focuses on the discussion of how Afrodescendants experience (de)colonisation, (in)equality and (anti-)racism, on making this a subject of discussion among Afrodescendants, and on placing these experiences in the context of the past, the present and the (optimistic) future.

The Africadelic Festival contributes to greater awareness of the legacy of African slavery – inequality, exclusion, racism – and more healing, empowerment and joy for Afrodescendants in Dutch society and around the world.

This project by Bigi Bon has seven phases, during which ten to twelve participants will be trained and coached to use digital sources to discover their own heroes from the period of slavery, and to rescue them from obscurity. Bigi Bon is basing this project on the blueprint that was developed in the project ‘Memre’: portraits of forgotten slave heroes.

The (re)discovered heroes and their heroic feats will be united in an artwork: initially a written story, which visual artists will use to make a portrait of a hero or heroic feat.

In the project ‘Revolte, Zwart verzet in beeld’ (‘Revolt, Visualising Black Resistance’), three artists – Quently Barbara, Frederick Calmes and Monika Dahlberg – collaborate with non-professional makers to create new works that recount the stories of black resistance heroes who revolted during the period of slavery.
This concerns people who have generally been forgotten, partly because the recorded history – written by the representatives of the colonial rulers – did not choose to do them justice. The resistance of these heroes is depicted, honoured and disseminated in the new works.

Chandersen Choenni is producing a publication of a historical study examining the history of the Afro-Surinamese.

Esli Tapilatu has received a grant for the production of three artworks for three key positions in the colonial history of the Netherlands. The project ‘Tafel van Bezinning’ (‘Table of Reflection’) is a sequel to the artwork ‘Goed Bloed’ (‘Good Blood’), which he made for the Bitterzoet Erfgoed initiative. Tapilatu focuses on the route travelled by the Dutch East India Company from their former headquarters in Amsterdam, via the Castle of Good Hope, eastwards to Banda Neira – one of the Maluku (aka Spice) Islands.

Tapilatu plans to create three installations for these three key positions in the colonial history. The table of the 17 Gentlemen (the Directors of the Dutch East India Company) is an important aspect of the project. It was at this table that the company’s vision and direction was determined, which ultimately resulted in slavery and colonialism, and laid the foundations of the later world economy. In this project, Tapilatu will work with a team from Castle of Good Hope and Banda’s Cultural and Heritage Foundation to seek stories about the influence of Dutch colonial rule on the here and now.

These stories (and illustrations) by the local population will ultimately be incorporated in a woven artwork: a tablecloth for on the table of the 17 Gentlemen in the former headquarters of the Dutch East India Company. The stories of the people are therefore given a place at the table. The work will be produced at the TextielMuseum in Tilburg.

Following a period of reflection at the end of the Memorial Year, the artwork will cover the entire table of the 17 Gentlemen. The artist would like to invite King Willem-Alexander to the table at the end of the year, and gift the artwork to the royal family, in response to the investigation launched by the King into the role and impact of his ancestry in and on slavery and colonialism.

‘Coprus Criolla’ (Black Body) is a modern dance performance exploring the stigmas and taboos with which Afro-Caribbean dance forms are burdened. Grootens will produce a contemporary Afro-Caribbean performance that illuminates the colonial influence on Afro-Caribbean culture.

Guilly Koster is organising a parliamentary committee of inquiry to investigate the role of the Dutch in the trans-Atlantic slave trade.

The interviewees are historical figures from the Dutch slave period. The figures, played by renowned actors and actresses, have all actively participated in or contributed to the establishment or preservation of slavery and the associated body of thought. Potential figures include: Peter Stuyvesant, King William III of the Netherlands, Jacobus Kapitein, Governor Maurits, Susanna du Plesis, Elizabeth Samson, Michiel de Ruyter and the King of the Ashantis. The envisaged members of the parliamentary committee are well-known figures with a range of functions in contemporary society.

In the spoken word and musical performance ‘Tijd Zal Ons Leren’ (‘Time Will Tell’), actress Romana Vrede and singer-songwriter OTION tell the largely forgotten and suppressed stories of members of the resistance during the Dutch colonial period. In a series of portraits, they recount the life stories of more than 100 heroes, both black and white, in the Caribbean, Africa, Asia and Europe.

The performance will premiere on 1 July during Keti Koti, and seven evening performances will follow.

Ira Kip has received a grant to research an upcoming theatre performance: ‘Poer A Sani’.

In the early 1920s, S.D. de Vries, Chair of the Colonial States of Suriname, commissioned a statue of Queen Wilhelmina to mark her Silver Jubilee. The statue was financed by the population of Suriname (to the tune of 18,000 guilders) and was made in the Netherlands by artist and sculptor Gerard Lom.
The bronze statue, weighing 8,000 kgs, was shipped to Suriname and festively unveiled on 31 August 1923 on the then Oranjeplein in Paramaribo. The Netherlands was keen to proudly exclaim their colonial might. Wilhelmina herself never visited Suriname. On the night of 23 November 1975, a group of men was summoned to remove the statue of Wilhelmina. The new regime no longer wanted the colonial statue in such a prominent position in the city, and moved it to the left bank of the Suriname River, close to the former Dutch fortress, Fort Zeelandia.

A new theatre text will be developed based on these events, together with a ‘Bigi yari working group’. Kip will be joined by a historian, researcher and a set designer on his journey, which encapsulates research, inspiration and creation.

Justitia Pietas Fides J.P.F. is organising a performance in Curaçao by a dance group from Suriname. Song and dance will be used to reflect on slave history during Slavery Memorial Year. The organisation aims to introduce the people of Curaçao to the two cultures of the two countries, which both stem from African culture, but are nowadays experienced differently.

The National Library of the Netherlands in The Hague is organising the solo exhibition ‘Reciting footsteps of a female migrant: Soerdi’ by the artist Sarojini Lewis. The exhibition is focused on the period of transition between the trans-Atlantic slave trade and the start of Indian forced labour in Suriname (1820-1920).

The focus is on the life of Soerdi, the first indentured female labourer to migrate from Barbados to Suriname in 1868. In the exhibition, photographs and film fragments made by the artist of places in Suriname that featured prominently in Soerdi’s life are linked to books in the KB collection, and to images from the collections of several other heritage institutions.
A significant aspect of the period addressed in this exhibition is the changing inter-ethnic relations within the Surinamese population.

Dutch artist and guest curator Patricia Kaersenhout (1966) will be compiling a multidisciplinary exhibition featuring works from the collection of Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen and the Rotterdam collection. The exhibition ‘Colonial Past’ (working title) explores Rotterdam’s colonial past and shows how this history still lives in a metropolitan environment such as Rotterdam. The multidisciplinary exhibition will feature both historical and contemporary work.

Lisandro Suriel has received a grant for the project ‘Carnival of Saints’.

Suriel says the following about the project:

“Growing up in Saint Martin, we were formally taught that our national history begins with Columbus’ ‘discovery’ and naming of the islands. Following from this, Europe’s historiographical grip on the Caribbean is deeply rooted in toponymy; the naming of places. Europe has been responsible for the renaming of islands already inhabited and named by indigenous peoples throughout the Caribbean archipelago. Today, many indigenous names are forgotten by the masses, having been replaced by ecclesiastical misnomers. Subsequently, Carnival of Saints reimagines the saints after which the islands were named, as the personifications of deities from Afro-spiritual pantheons such as Voodoo, Santeria, and Candomble. This is done in a similar way our African ancestors disguised African deities as Catholic saints during slavery, giving rise to pluralities of Afro-Caribbean syncretism. Thus, Carnival of Saints purports to be a photographic series as well as an audio-visual project reclaiming Dutch- and wider- Caribbean toponymy. Crucial to this project is the involvement of – and dialogue between- the various cultural groups that exist on the intersection of a complex (Dutch) Caribbean matrix of identity. By acknowledging toponymy through intercultural realities, Carnival of Saints serves as a device for revisiting the history and scope of the Dutch slave trade.”

In the Berkel Museum Slavery Project, the stories of Ishmael Berkel (owner of the Berkel Museum and the Lynch Plantation), are digitised and made more accessible to the public. Ishmael Berkel, now 89, gives guided tours introducing the various exhibits in the museum. He also talks about his great-grandmother, who was alive when slavery was abolished.

A collaboration involving two granted applications.

Mariella van Apeldoorn and Eva Toorop are producing a six-part podcast called ‘Tempo Doeloe’, exploring slavery in the former Dutch East Indies. Tempo Doeloe means ‘bygone days’ and for Dutch people, refers to the period between 1870 and 1914. Indonesians themselves have different interpretations of Tempo Doeloe: some see it as the period from 1840 onwards, and others as the period from 1880 onwards. Listeners are invited to join a personal quest to find the truth and to delve into history with interviews, audio fragments, stories and conversations.

Mineke de Vries plans to use the life of the black writer and (political) activist Frank Martinus Arion (1936-2015) to illuminate postcolonial history:

‘Arion was one of the only children from his poor background to attend a white school; he was the first black, non-elite student in Leiden, and was the first black actor in the Netherlands. Throughout his life, he championed improving knowledge of the past, fought for compensation and official apologies, and was the driving force behind the slavery monument in Amsterdam. He was the paragon of the past living in the present. Arion wrote in the Dutch that he was taught by the friars, but was also a standard-bearer for Papiamento on his island, so he was often accused of duplicity. He was a man who lived in two cultures. His perspective was not understood at the time, but his role as an advocate and visionary is now proving to be highly relevant today. In addition to Arion’s voice, De Vries introduces many cultural and political role models from Caribbean society, and draws parallels between Arion’s life and milestones in Antillean history’.

By charting Arion’s life, De Vries wants to share historical knowledge through a personal archive (diaries/letters) and help raise awareness.

Mirelle van Tulder is making the short autoethnographic film ‘Being Part European’. The film focuses on the factual material culture of slavery and colonialism, currently housed in the depots of the Dutch National Museum of World Cultures. The film asks critical questions regarding the discussions of restitution and the future of ethnographic museums.
In the film, Van Tulder questions how objects are archived, and emphasises the fact that thousands of objects have been removed from their place of origin only to lay hopelessly in the Netherlands.

In this ten-part video podcast developed by Museum Geelvinck, actress and singer Gerda Havertong, ethnomusicologist, composer and flautist Ronald Snijders and cultural anthropologist Dunya Verwey explore slave history and the future of Afro-Surinamese music culture in the Netherlands.
In conversation with music-historical researcher and composer/musician Vernon Chatlein, a parallel is also drawn with music culture in Curaçao, while the video podcast will also feature interviews with musicians from today’s youth scene, such as Tyfoon and Winne.

The podcast addresses various aspects of Afro-Surinamese music culture, from narrative folk songs with their roots in slavery (Bigi Kayman) to the rhythm, instruments and direct connection of and with West Africa.

Neske Beks presents ‘Moederlijnen’ (‘Maternal Lines’), an audio work/installation/constellation.

Beks explains: ‘In the summer of 2021, I started working on a new audio work called Moederlijnen, for an upcoming exhibition. I made audio recordings of the voices of a Caribbean and Surinamese woman, and travelled back in time with them to reveal seven generations of ancestresses: from the woman herself to her mother, grandmother, great-grandmother, great-great-grandmother, and the great-great-grandmother’s mother and grandmother. With the Antillean woman (Jurenne Hooi), we were able to record her mother singing her mother’s songs: songs that were sung in the time of her enslaved ancestors. With the Surinamese woman, we were able to go back six generations – to the period of slavery. I would like to develop these sketches (ideally three) into an audio work that will also be a constellation in the public space. I am currently not inclined to use visuals, except for perhaps old photographs. I would definitely like the work to be interactive, as with Woman.Life.Song, which I made in Bruges. The listener will also be invited to reflect on their life as a woman and an ancestress (white, Black, coloured)’.

With special podwalks (audio walks), the NTR is keen to introduce the many voices that characterised this period, also as a means of improving the connection between the public and this history. The podwalks will be organised at locations of special (historical) interest, inviting listeners on a journey through history.

Buildings, monuments and other marks left on the landscape bring historical events to life. What was the role of the residents at the time, and what are the consequences for today’s Kingdom?

NTR wants to invite listeners to experience history by connecting historical locations to the personal stories of people who lived through slavery.

From June 2023, the Amsterdam City Archives and the Suriname National Archives present ‘Famiri Familie’, an exhibition using sources from both archives (with stories about trans-Atlantic families) to explore the – up until now neglected – shared history of Amsterdam and Suriname, which began in the 17th century and is still alive today. The stories in the exhibition stem from research conducted in the archives in Amsterdam and Suriname.

The notarial deeds in both archives are a valuable source, offering information about famous and less well-known Surinamese people, Amsterdammers and transients, (international) trade, shipping, slavery, personal possessions and inheritances, but also eyewitness accounts of hardships at sea, quarrels between neighbours and scuffles.

While developing the exhibition, both parties are also working to improve access to the Suriname notarial archives. The applicant remarks that the aim of this exhibition is to highlight the stories of the enslaved and others found in the archives of the Amsterdam City Archives and the Suriname National Archives. The joint exhibition will offer the public (both in Suriname and the Netherlands) greater insight into the emotionally charged shared history, and stimulate research into the common aspects of this history.

The project ‘Healing’ is the third instalment in a series of activities inspired by Lianne Damen’s book De smeekbede (2020). The project includes a theatre performance, which will be staged in the 2023-2024 theatre season.

An exhibition of work by the artists Marcel Pinas and Isan Corinde is planned at the Stedelijk Museum Vianen for summer 2024, opening on or around 1 July 2024. The exhibition will also go on display at De Hal in Paramaribo, Suriname.

The artworks in the exhibition are a quest to find artistic representation of feeling heard and a place for the emotions felt by surviving relatives.

Stichting &CC is collaborating with First Noble on a multidisciplinary art project entitled ‘Shared History Of the World’ (SHOW). This project focuses on the empowerment of Europeans who are part of the African and Caribbean diaspora.

Inspired by Afrofuturism, the project features a virtual reality application based on a new literary work. There is also an interdisciplinary context programme (online and offline) that does justice to the history of Dutch Afro-Caribbeans.

The project will ultimately result in a VR production that will visit fifteen Dutch and European locations between spring and December 2024, an online platform and a comprehensive programme of (digital) installations and artworks, lectures, spoken word acts and cosplay performances.

Stichting Ander Beeld is producing the series ‘Brieven aan de achterblijvers’ (‘Letters to those who stayed behind’). The series focuses on the first indentured labourers to be taken from India to work on the plantations in Suriname following the abolition of slavery. In the period up to 1916, more than another 34,000 Indians were taken to Suriname.

After spending years in the Suriname National Archives, the letters that they sent home – also known as the Calcutta Letters – were made public in June 2022. The letters offer an insight into the daily lives of the labourers on the plantations in Suriname, and how they missed their family and friends in India.

‘Moeder Suriname’ (‘Mother Suriname’) is a creative documentary made using archive material about Suriname from the abolition of slavery in 1863 until the country gained independence in 1975. Much of this material is being used publicly for the first time.

In this film, Tessa Leuwshae tells the life story of her grandmother Fansi. Fansi’s life is poetically interwoven with the wider history of Suriname, with both Fansi herself and the country growing towards interdependence. The text by director/writer Leuwshae is written from Fansi’s perspective, in the form of a Surinamese narrative (‘tori’).

The project saw collaboration with a number of archives, including those of Sound & Vision, the Eye Filmmuseum, the Zeister Zendingsgenootschap and the Brothers of Our Lady Mother of Mercy, Brabants Erfgoed and the Netherlands Institute of Military History. Surinamese organisations also assisted with the film: the Suriname National Archives, the Buku archive, the Surinaams Museum in Paramaribo and The Black Archives. The Rijksmuseum and the Royal Netherlands Institute of Southeast Asian and Caribbean Studies (KITLV) also kindly answered questions regarding their photographic archives.

The cinema screenings will be complemented by special impact screenings, attended by the maker, experts and other concerned parties.

Stichting Boekoe is creating an artwork in Suriname in co-creation with the local population, as a memorial to Fort Boekoe. The monument will be placed on the banks of the Cottica River, while an educational centre will also be established.

Stichting CQ Film is making a filmed documentary portrait of former teacher and novelist Cynthia McLeod. The film follows the Surinamese icon during the realisation of her dream: to restore the Elisabeth Samson House in Paramaribo and turn it into a museum. In this documentary, director Mildred Roethof captures the legacy of slavery based on Cynthia McLeod’s research and findings.

Stichting Doewet is creating a performance entitled ‘Boni’.

‘Boni’ explores the consequences of centuries of slavery and abuse, the inequal treatment of men and women, and of black and white, and the notion of accepting being free to be who you are. This musical is directed by Stanley Burleson, written by Lars Boom and Joanne Purperhart, with music by Norman van Geerke and choreography by Jomecia Oosterwolde.

Stichting Gedeeld Verleden Gezamenlijke Toekomst (Shared Past Joint Future Foundation) is organising the Dia di Tula (Tula Day). In addition to the official opening on 17 August, the year-round programme features a range of activities, elements and disciplines.

In the project ‘Bou Di Laman’, four Curaçao dancers (Junadry Leocaria, Dalton Jansen, Faizah Grootens and Remses Rafaela) return to Curaçao to investigate their roots and gain a better understanding of how their heritage impacts them in their daily lives. Expect a combination of digital and visual, hip-hop and Curaçao folklore, and in the makers’ words: ‘rhythms that connect us without requiring explanation, and that inspire us to find new common ground and movements!’.

The makers’ investigations will be translated into a multidisciplinary theatre performance with dance, spoken word, film and live music, in collaboration with the Curaçao percussionist and composer Vernon Chatlein and filmmaker Selwyn de Wind, acclaimed for the exhibition Kòrsou – Curaçao (National Archives). KIP Republic is the production company.

Stichting Kwaku Summer Festival is developing the exhibition ‘De Komma’ (‘The Comma’) in collaboration with OSCAM (Open Space Contemporary Art Museum). The project draws on the creative insights of several artists to explore the past, present and future of transatlantic slavery from a decolonised perspective. The focus is on the current situation and its influence on the expected future of black people.

The exhibition will be held on 1 July during the annual Keti Koti Festival in 2023 and 2024, and during the Kwaku Summer Festival in Amsterdam Zuidoost from 15 July to 6 August 2023. A unique timeline of panels allows visitors to experience three generations of transatlantic slavery and its unceasing influence on modern society. The applicant notes that poignant images and captivating text will be used, in addition to archive material from the foundation of the Dutch West India Company through to the conquest of Curaçao and uprisings by enslaved Africans.

This not only concerns stories from a long time ago, but also shows how institutional racism remains in communication styles and metaphors still in everyday usage.

Stichting LM Publishers is producing a bundle of short essays and poems on the subject of slavery by authors from the Kingdom of the Netherlands and Suriname. The selected authors have all previously published work on this subject.

The stories are written for teenage readers (15+). The project manager (Loekie Morales) or one of the participating authors will present and distribute the books at schools in Sint Maarten, Curaçao, Aruba, Bonaire and the Netherlands.

The publisher also plans to produce an e-book, which will be made available for free.

Stichting Nina de la Parra Unrestricted Tori has received funding for ‘Tyepi’, a collaborative project involving theatre makers Hilkia Lobman, Nina de la Parra and Sanne Landvreugd, accompanied by musicians Ernie Wolf and Robby Tjon En Fa.

The project will be made in Suriname and subsequently in the Netherlands, and performed in both countries. An impact programme will also be developed for both countries. The project starts on 1 October 2023 and will run until 29 February 2024, featuring 19 performances and 13 performances with impact sessions.

The performance will be based on ongoing discussions between Hilkia Lobman and Nina de la Parramet regarding prejudices between white and black women, their shared experiences and encounters with others, including during a previous work programme in Paramaribo. The material will be adapted for theatre, and will result in a self-examination and an examination of each another.

‘In Kleur’ (‘In Colour’), by Urban Myth in collaboration with youth theatre company De Toneelmakerij and youth theatre De Krakeling, explores the role played by the City of Amsterdam in Dutch slave history. The following four theatre makers will be invited to write a script: Sharona Maguette Diop, Anton de Bies, Idi Lemmers and Maggie Schmeitz.

They will all write a one-act play inspired by their own experiences, with musician Vernon Chatlein on hand to offer additional inspiration in coaching sessions and expert meetings. Jeritza Toney will host the performances, and will tie the one-act plays together. Wearing traditional costume, she will also introduce rituals from slave history. The performance will be staged eight times at De Krakeling.

Five school performances will be staged in the week prior to Keti Koti (1 July 2023), three for primary schools and two for middle schools. Another three open performances will be held for families on 30 June and 1 July 2023. The primary aim of this project is to realise enduring improvements to the youth theatre repertoire addressing this history.

Stichting Zus ’n Zo is organising a multi-day festival, spread over the last three months of 2023 and held at the Bijlmer Parktheater, OSCAM and the Amsterdam Public Library (Bijlmerplein). The theme of this year’s ‘Zus ‘n Zo Festival’ is Sisterhood in Decolonial Times.

The inadequate representation of women in history books also applies to the literature available on the transatlantic slave history. This is particularly evident in regard to resistance: it is mainly the male members of the resistance who take centre stage, while women also played a major role.

Stichting Zus ’n Zo is keen to reflect on this year’s focus in the Netherlands on the 150th anniversary of the abolition of slavery, and especially to concentrate this special commemoration at the festival on the voices and stories of women from the time.

The Midden-Holland Regional Archives are developing a publication on the colonial and slave history of Gouda, intended for a wide audience. The aim of the publication is to support knowledge development and diffusion. Roxana Chandali has been appointed as the project manager for his project.

Tania Monteiro has received a grant for a research project investigating Amilcar Cabral, his influence on Cape Verde communities and his role within the Monteiro family history. The research will result in an exhibition and presentation that will be open to the public.

‘Op de rug van Bigi Kayman’ (‘On Bigi Kayman’s Back’) opens at the Verwey Museum Haarlem on 30 June 2023. This exhibition is inspired by the eponymous children’s book by Henna Goudzand Nahar and Hedy Tijn, which charts the lives of Afi and Kofi, children living with their family on a plantation in Suriname.

This story is not told by adults, but by children. This perspective allows for an accessible and comprehensible exhibition for children aged five and above.

The aim of the exhibition is to offer insight into the slave history and to bring the subject out into the open for children.