Rachwill Breidel and Yessica Deira selected for the Residency Suriname 2026

13 November 2025

about the residency

Based on the concept of alakondre – the idea of a land of many – residents are invited to reflect on the connections and contrasts between communities, stories and landscapes. At the same time, the history of Suriname, with its social and economic challenges, represents an important starting point to explore these contexts as a coherent whole. The residency provides a platform to conduct design research and develop work that does justice to Suriname’s many voices and layers.

general impression

There proved to be considerable interest in this residency. Notably, many applicants came from disciplines that do not directly align with the Creative Industries Fund NL's fields: design, architecture or digital culture. As a result, not all applications could be formally processed. However, this demonstrates that there is interest and motivation for a residency in Suriname from throughout the entire creative sector.

In the applications that could be processed, the committee saw many crossovers into areas such as music, theatre, crafts and literature. The committee found this interesting and fitting with the notion that young makers operate hybrid practices.

The quality of the plans varied. As this was the first edition, the committee understands that applicants sometimes found it difficult to connect their practice with the three locations. Some plans were too ambitious by incorporating three projects into one proposal, while in others the connection with the locations remained unclear. Applicants who were able to link a personal motivation to artistic aims and to the three locations were highly appreciated.

selection

Rachwill Breidel – a Sranan instrumenti
Rachwill Breidel explores the musical traditions and instruments of various Surinamese populations, shaped by their history and rituals. He does this by collecting stories, sounds and ways of playing from Parimaribo, Moengo and Frederiksdorp. Breidel translates his insights into new experimental instruments that embody the concept of alakondre. The prototypes are tested and further developed together with musicians and dancers. With his project, Breidel aims not only to preserve Surinamese music and spirituality, but also to explore how innovation can future-proof the country’s musical practice.

At the end of the residency, Breidel will showcase the process and the alakondre instruments in a performance, in collaboration with Surinamese musicians and dancers. Afterwards, Breidel plans to develop the prototypes further, set up an online archive and present the instruments at festivals in Suriname and the Netherlands.

Yessica Deira – Offbeat
Yessica Deira has a background in graphic design and visual arts. During the residency, Deira is carrying out the project Offbeat, which focuses on the migration of music. Deira examines how the Surinamese musical styles of kawina and kaseko found their way to the Netherlands via the diaspora. How can the diaspora re-establish itself in Surinamese culture, despite distance and time? Deira approaches music as a tool and as a source of healing, which can activate both personal and collective memory. For Offbeat, a living archive is being created, consisting of sound clips, observations, interviews and documentation of dance and ritual. It will be a participatory process in which the diaspora becomes co-researchers and actively contributes to knowledge formation and cultural transfer.

assessment

The applications were assessed on the basis of the following criteria:

• The artistic quality of the work. The committee considers the applicant’s portfolio and CV and the applicant’s position within the field.
• The quality of the development plan. The committee assesses the description of the intended development and/or the plan for the working period. The committee also looks at the proposed creative angle.
• The motivation in relation to the objective of the residency. The committee assesses whether the development plan is in line with the objective and/or mission of the residency.

numbers

Of the 36 applications submitted, 10 were positively assessed. The four highest-scoring applications were submitted to the partner organisations from Suriname, who assessed the proposals in a similar manner and selected two makers.