Awards, stages, releases and money you can apply for — across Curaçao and the wider Dutch Caribbean. Every line has a source you can open.
Every line here was checked against the source linked beside it before it was written. Nothing on this page is reported from memory, and nothing appears because it sounded right. Where two outlets disagree, the page says so instead of choosing. These people did not sign up for this page and there are no contact details here — it is a record of what has been done, not a way to reach anybody. If you are named here and would rather not be, say so and it comes down.
The two Curaçaoan composers won the Buma Music in Media Award 2026 in the Short Film category, for their score to “Toen Ik Klein Was, Was Ik Niet Bang”.
The percussionist and composer won the Black Achievement Award in the art-and-culture category in the Netherlands, for his contribution to Afro-Caribbean music.
Won the 54th Festival di Tumba with “Awe t’ami so kubo”, performed with the band ERA, making it Curaçao’s official carnival song for 2026. He was 20, and had won the youth edition in 2019.
The Papiamentu public broadcaster reported a record crowd of more than nine thousand at the final.
The other finalists of Festival di Tumba 2026, with “Paña kompañ’ ami”, “Awe sí!”, “Ariba tur nashon” and “Kabes riba awa”.
Listed as a set, not as ranked places: two outlets give different orderings for second and third, and we could not find the official result.
Won the youth edition, Festival di Tumba Hubenil, with “Karnaval Bou Di Mi Kòntrol”, also taking most original contribution, best lyrics and best performance.
Performed at Internationaal Theater Amsterdam, reviving a cappella songs in Gueni, a creole spoken by enslaved West Africans on the island in the 17th and 18th centuries.
The Aruban artist performed at Curaçao North Sea Jazz 2026, and was singled out in review for showing that an artist from the region can carry the festival’s main stage.
Performs “Mama Wa’!”, the official song of Curaçao’s national football team for the 2026 World Cup, re-recorded in Miami with a tropical-salsa arrangement. Curaçao qualified in November 2025 as the smallest nation ever to reach a World Cup.
Released “Brio”, a seven-track EP in Papiamentu, produced with Killing Skills and Elvis the Beatmaker.
The Fonds Podiumkunsten’s scheme for pop, hip-hop and dance gained a separate section for the Caribbean part of the Kingdom. Individual makers can now apply directly — previously only organisations could.
Read the fund’s own rules before you rely on this. It is the most actionable item on this page and it rests on a single news report; the amounts and the opening date were not confirmed against the fund itself.
Curaçao, Aruba and Sint Maarten are NOT eligible for the Netherlands Film Production Incentive, because as autonomous countries their production spend does not count as Dutch expenditure. Bonaire, Sint Eustatius and Saba are eligible. Access to regular Dutch Film Fund subsidies is unaffected.
Crowned Rey di Tumba 2026 in ARUBA with “Decreto Oficial”, which also took Best Composition and Best Arrangement.
Two niche outlets disagree on the exact date and on the song’s spelling.
Won the youth and adult categories of Festival Kanta bo Boneiru 2026 in BONAIRE, with “E mensahe pa un mihó Boneiru” and “Nos historia no ta pèrdí”.
TWO THINGS ARE MISSING FROM THIS PAGE, AND THAT IS THE STORY.
There is not one stream count, sales figure or chart position anywhere above. We looked, in three languages. No source states a number for any artist from this island — because there is no Curaçao chart body and no certification body to state one. A platform counter read off a screen is not a source, so we do not publish one.
And in the international showcase circuit — WOMEX, jazzahead!, Mundial Montréal, Circulart, FIM GDL — we found exactly one Curaçao selection ever: Kuenta i Tambu, at WOMEX in 2014. Nothing since.
So a record can be the biggest thing on this island and be officially invisible. No chart, no certificate, no collection means no royalty, no data, no leverage, and nothing to show a foreign buyer who asks how big you really are. That is not this page being thin. That is the thing that needs fixing.