Cultural education on Aruba has been given a major boost. In 2015, an initiative had already been launched to work on cultural education through the Arts and Cultural Education Implementation Committee. Now, in response to changing circumstances, a new plan has been unveiled. The impetus for this lies partly in the decision taken at the 2019 Ministerial Four Countries Consultation of Aruba, Curaçao, Sint Maarten and the European Netherlands, which identified cultural transfer, cultural education and heritage preservation as areas of great importance to ensure social involvement for all. In the Caribbean part of the Kingdom, the emphasis is not yet on local culture and history everywhere, and these themes are strongly represented in the educational materials used. In addition, Aruba’s current government is eager to redouble its effort in cultural education.

The ministers whose portfolios include education and culture have issued a ministerial order with a view to establishing a Cultural Education Committee. The purpose of this committee is to develop a Cultural Education Plan for Aruba. But how do you give shape to such a plan?

In order to give the implementation of the Cultural Education Plan the best possible chance of success, an approach involving broad representation at various levels was chosen. First, a Coordinating Committee has been set up, consisting of representatives from Aruba’s education department (Departamento di Enseñansa Aruba) with two policy officers as the driving force behind the project. The director and two members of policy staff from Aruba’s Directorate of Culture (DCA) will facilitate them in this role. The committee also includes the Secretary General and the Programme Specialist in Cultural Education (as a secretaros) from the National UNESCO Commission of Aruba.

The task of this Cultural Education Coordinating Committee is to establish the Cultural Education Committee. In addition to representation from both departments and UNESCO, this body has been set up to include representatives from the field of culture. The head of the Curriculum Department at the Directorate of Education will join the discussions, along with a teacher of expressive subjects from the Instituto Pedagogico Arubano and a representative from the Faculty of Arts and Science at the University of Aruba. The team is supplemented by a teacher of cultural and artistic education, an artist or youth leader with experience in extracurricular cultural education, and representatives of the museum field. Together they will work to develop a Cultural Education Plan for Aruba.

The Cultural Education Committee is fed by three working groups. These correspond with the following three-way division with respect to cultural education decided upon in the Ministerial Four Countries Consultation:

From the European Netherlands, the National Centre of Expertise for Cultural Education and Amateur Arts (LKCA) is involved. LKCA will give a training course in the second half of 2022 on how to map the learning ecosystem around students. For this learning ecosystem, all relevant cultural providers are identified. Mutual contacts will be established across this entire network so that the various elements can learn more about each other and each other’s activities. The network has a collaborative focus: how can we work together to shape activities around local culture and history for the children and young people of Aruba? The results of this training course will provide an important starting point for the Cultural Education Plan for Aruba. The perspective of the learning ecosystem is that of the children and young people themselves. Involving all cultural partners in their cultural development creates a sense of support and ownership among everyone involved.