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Mapping the Future: Why Aruba Needs a GPS

Let’s be honest — we’ve been building brilliance in the dark. Why We Started This Mapping Project The Methodology: Local Roots, Global Standards What We’ve Learned So Far What Happens Next? How can you be part of it?

Let’s be honest — we’ve been building brilliance in the dark.

Aruba’s cultural and creative sector has thrived for decades with talent, passion, and drive. But without clear data, national coordination, or a map, we’ve been moving forward without truly knowing where we are or where we’re headed.

That changes now.

Go Cultura Foundation launched the Cultural Cartography Initiative — Aruba’s first national effort to map our Cultural and Creative Industries (CCIs). This isn’t a glossy brochure or a simple arts directory. It’s a strategic navigation system designed to track our progress, spotlight our impact, and chart a course for a sustainable, creative future.

Why We Started This Mapping Project

Because you can’t fund what you don’t count.

You can’t grow what you don’t measure.

And you definitely can’t defend what you can’t describe.

When we launched the initiative in April 2022, we knew we weren’t just conducting a study. It was a declaration: culture and creativity in Aruba will no longer be invisible.

This project is about:  

  • Revealing and understanding the true size, diversity, and economic power of Aruba’s Cultural and Creative Industries (CCIs)
  • Gathering reliable data to guide policy, investment, and education
  • Recognizing creatives not as hobbyists, but as a formal sector that drives national progress
  • Giving the government, funders, and the public clear reasons to stop overlooking culture and start investing in it strategically 

We’re not just mapping a sector. 

We’re building the foundation for Aruba’s creative future.

The Methodology: Local Roots, Global Standards

We didn’t start from scratch — but we didn’t copy-paste either. Inspired by successful leading models in Colombia, across the Caribbean, and in the Nordic region, Aruba’s mapping initiative was designed to reflect both global best practices and our island’s unique cultural DNA.

Here’s what it looks like in practice:

  • 8 creative subsectors defined — spanning everything from performing arts to gaming to cultural heritage 
  • Surveys, interviews, and workshops carried out across the island
  • A combined lens of quantitative data + lived experiences
  • Mapping led by local researchers, trained in international standards
  • Co-created with stakeholders: artists, educators, entrepreneurs, government, and NGOs

This isn’t theory.

This is Aruba’s creative sector mapping itself — alive, participatory, and built with and for the community. 

What We’ve Learned So Far

Spoiler: Aruba’s creative energy is bigger, bolder, and more diverse than most people ever realized.

  • Creatives are working across formal and informal spaces.
  • Cultural work is influencing education, tourism, technology, wellness, and heritage.
  • Many practitioners don’t even realize they’re part of a defined sector — yet they are.
  • The call for visibility, training, funding, and fair pay is louder than ever.

But here’s the real headline:

Aruba’s Cultural and Creative Industries are ready to be recognized as a cornerstone of national development, and the sector is prepared to rise to the challenge.

What Happens Next?

We’re in the Data Collection phase now (July–September 2025), but this is only the beginning. Here’s the road ahead:

  1. October–November 2025: Data analysis and creative sector profiles
  2. December 2025: Pre-launch briefings and public presentations
  3. February 2026: Official Mapping Report Launch

And after that?

A new era begins, where evidence-based advocacy, bold investment, and strategic policy will finally put Aruba’s Cultural and Creative Industries on the map, not just as a sector, but as a driver of national identity, pride, and progress.

How can you be part of it?

  • Are you a creative or cultural worker?
  • Do you run a business, workshop, studio, band, or solo practice?
  • Do you code, craft, produce, design, write, perform, or curate?

Then this is for you.

👉 Register now

Be counted.

Be mapped.

Be part of shaping the strategy that will shape Aruba’s future.

Because Aruba deserves more than assumptions.

It deserves visibility, recognition, and a clear path forward.

This isn’t just data collection — it’s a cultural movement.

And your story belongs in it.