Activities 2019

In the first part of 2019 a full week programme was completed for children and the elderly and in June 2019 we organized a festive final presentation at Hòfi Kultural.

The year 2019 started with various Maskarada presentations by the children in different districts. During the year, Children made kites, made music and did theatre. The elders have danced and played the kwarta, guitar and sinfonia. In the first half of 2019, 86 children and 80 elderly people participated in the activities every week. Activities at the three primary schools of the Impuls programme also took place.

In August we went to Saba with music teacher Arnold van der Tang to train the teachers. Expertise promotion has also taken place at Kolegio San Bernardo and Pelikaan Elementary School. The teachers themselves started working with music in the classroom, using music method 123zing and were coached by the music teacher.
In the second part of 2019 we mainly organized elderly activities. There is still a lot of enthusiasm among the elderly to get involved and we have a smaller but loyal group of 40 visitors. In the context of Samen Oud we have organized weekly kwarta-classes for beginners and advanced students. Guitar and sinfonia lessons also took place every week and an elderly band at Hòfi Kultural every week. One of the elderly, Eddy Campos, composes and sings songs for the group. From Classical Music Board we received a contribution to record the songs. In 2019 we started recording in the studio for the first time. We will continue with this in 2020.

Activities 2018

As part of Samen Oud, about 80 elderly people have played kwarta and guitar weekly, done storytelling, danced and from September 2018 also started teaching on the sinfonia. In September we started with a walk-in afternoon on Friday afternoon, where the participants of the weekly activities come together to practice and make music together or paint. Every Friday afternoon an elderly band practiced at Hòfi Kultural.

In the context of Kansen voor alle Kinderen, about 90 children participated weekly in the Muziekspeeltuin, Rugzak vol Talent and had their own rap presented. Girls played in their own brass band and learned about plants from a kunukeru. In the months leading up to the new year, a group of children prepared a Maskarada presentation.

In 2018, the project Passantenkunstenaars in the Caribbean: Featuring Dolf Henkes, took place. The foundation developed teaching materials and an educational programme for students in Curaçao and Bonaire. In November, Vinz100 stayed at the Artist in Residence and created four murals on Bonaire with 110 schoolchildren.

In 2018 we started Impuls Muziek Onderwijs at three schools, Kolegio San Bernardo and de Pelikaan at Bonaire and Sacred Heart Primary School on Saba. We organised a start-up presentation at the schools on Bonaire and gave training for the promotion of expertise to teachers in the three schools.

The highlight of 2018 was the visit of Princess Beatrix to Hòfi Kultural. Fifty elder people, children and young people gave various presentations for the Princess and the more than 100 visitors. For weeks there was practice for the dance and music presentation by the older participants and a music trio with the sinfonia brought a real serenade. The children gave a maskarada presentation and a painted bus was presented. Children painted kalebas and youngsters did their rap for the Princess. Princess Beatrix unveiled a work of art created by Gibi Bomba. It was a great honor for all of us to receive her.

Activities 2017

From January 2017, the activities for the elderly were continued at Villa Antonia. Elder people from the neighborhood came together to do the old dances, played the kwarta and told each other stories using old photographs from the archive of Archivo Boneiru. In February 2017, a year after the first stone laying we joined Bon Doet, and volunteers were helping on the construction site.

In the meantime, Hòfi Kultural was built. Contractor Javier Boezem has started the construction of the palapa. We have imported sabal palm leaves from the Dominican Republic, covering the roof of the palapa. Then the floor was tiled and the activities under the palapa could start. The roof of the kitchen is closed with roof tiles and a concrete roof frame. In the autumn of 2017, contractor BonNed was involved in the completion of the construction. They have partly sponsored their work.

In September, in addition to the elderly activities, the children's activities Kindermuziekspeeltuin and Rugzak vol Talent started as part of Kansen voor alle Kinderen. In October we started Bonaire Vibes, a program for young people who wrote their own rap lyrics and made video clips. We also held a meeting for cultural NGOs about cooperation and what is going on in the sector.

On December 15, a presentation of all activities took place. The children and the elderly showed what they had prepared and it was a festive meeting moment for the neighbourhood.
In 2017 the new website was built: www.hofikultural.com  

Activities 2016

In 2016 we started to build Hòfi Kultural. In February Louis Posner and Hyacinta 'Chinta' Merselina together laid the first foundation stone of the building. During 'Bon Doet' trees were planted by volunteers.

The following activities for the elderly took place: dancing, playing kwarta and storytelling. In September we started with a music program for children at Kolegio San Bernardo. 60 Children played guitar, brassband, kwarta and percussion. In December the children and the elderly gave a presentation of what they learned. The activities happened at Villa Antonia.

In September we also started with a program together with Fundashon Nawati and Forma, to perform the Bonairean New Year's tradition Maskarada. In January the students from Forma gave a presentation of Maskarada at three different schools.

Activities 2015

In the beginning of 2015 we completed the project Pone Bari Ronka. Children form Childcare organisation Fesbo took part of the Ruti di Bari at Mangasina di Rei. We made a informatiebooklet about the Ruta di Bari. The booklet and the DVD were handed out to the Rijksvertegenwoordiger. In February a conference of UNESCO took place. Footage from our DVD about Pone Bari Ronka was displayed and explained to the participants of the conference. Watch the video here.

In January the second year of ‘Children Making Music’ started. 40 Children played brassbandm 5 children bari and 5 children kwarta. The group of winners, the All Star Brassband, of last year continued their lessons for another year. In June the final presentation was held on the Wilhelmina Park. In July the All Star Brassband visited Curacao to perform together with Brassband B.E.M. and participated in music workshops.

Activities 2014

In January the project Çhildren Making Music’ started.100 Children participated in music lessons and performed in June. On the 17th of February the project was launched by music performer Carlo Balemans who made music together with all the children on boomwhackers.

In 2014 the project Archive Bonaire was completed together with FuHiKuBo. We launched the website www.archivoboneiru.com in June 2014. We digitalised the complete archive from Boi Antoin and made a website were people can find books, pictures and documents about Bonaire. It was a project together with Regionaal Archief Dordrecht.

In September 2014 the project ‘Pone Barí Ronka’ started. Children learned how to make and play the Barí by the elderly form Bonaire. The project was presented at the Dia di Barí at Mangasina di Rei.