The Kwaku Summer Festival is the biggest multicultural festival in the Netherlands and is held every Saturday and Sunday in the months July and August. It takes place in the Bijlmerpark in Amsterdam Southeast. For six weekends long, the organization offers a very extensive program containing (live) music, movies, sports, food, dancing, information and meetings. The Festival has a different theme every year which is noticeable in the music, performances, art, literature and several elections.

Traditionally, the Festival functions as a platform for ethnic-cultural societies from all over the Netherlands. Thus the Kwaku Festival contributes in a special way to the (multicultural) society; a society in which acceptation and harmony between different communities and individuals is of essential importance.

The Festival happens to be an important information market for various companies: marketing companies, PR agencies, manufacturers and factory-owners, also multinationals and large and medium companies are represented at the Festival.

The Kwaku Events Foundation is aware that in the years to come between 60.000 and 100.000 young and well-educated children from immigrants will find their place in the Dutch labour market and will play a dominant role in society. That is why we emphasize the importance of values and standards, social consciousness, social behaviour and how these young people will deal with laws and rules in a strongly changing society.

It is important that talented and successful people stimulate others to trust their own powers. At Kwaku these people can show themselves and tell their story.

The number of visitors at the Kwaku Summer Festival increased considerably over the years: in 2003 and 2004 about 1.000.000 individuals visited the Festival.

The organisers of the festival work very hard to offer all these visitors a varied program and a perfectly organised festival. Because of the increasing number of visitors it takes a lot more time to let everything run smoothly. In the past the festival was aimed especially at visitors with Surinam, Antillian and African backgrounds. But now that the festival is growing ever more multicultural in character, it is getting more and more attractive for all kinds of nationalities.

Kwaku’s Mission

Organising a festival where all participants in our multicultural society get together in harmony and have fun.

Vision:

We wish to make a definite contribution to the multicultural society: a society where understanding and tolerance between different communities and individuals are of essential importance. We hope to inspire people by the power of this multicultural society: not only the people participating in Kwaku but the entire Dutch community and even outside the Dutch borders.

Goals

We aim to make a contribution to a multicultural society where people treat each other in harmonious ways, and we offer a stage to young people who are active in music, theatre, art, literature and sports. With our festival we attract people from other countries, who come here for the performances on stage and for our culinary paradise. Kwaku festival is a free festival – there is no entrance fee and we aim to keep it this way.

Where can you reach us?

The Kwaku Summer Festival is being organised by:

Organization Kwakoe Events

Kouwenoord 69

1104 KB Amsterdam

Phone:  020 – 416 08 93

Fax: 020 – 416 14 15

E-mail: info@kwakoe.nl

History

What does Kwaku mean?

In the African tradition it is common that children carry the name of the day they were born; especially males who are born on a Wednesday, received the name Kwaku. This is the case with a lot of Surinam males with African background.

On July 1st 1863 slavery was abolished in Surinam. A hundred years after that a statue of an unleashed slave was unveiled to remember this. The statue is a symbol for emancipation. And since July 1st 1863 was on a Wednesday, the statue was named Kwaku.

How did the festival start?

The festival started in the year 1975 as a soccer tournament for the people who stayed home during the summer holidays in Amsterdam Southeast. The festival was mainly visited by people who lived in Amsterdam Southeast and this made the festival multicultural from the very beginning. During the years the festival has developed into one of the biggest multicultural manifestations attracting about one million visitors. Fifty percent of those are from Amsterdam and the surrounding area, the other half comes from all parts of the Netherlands. Most visitors are from minority groups with a strong Surinam, Antillian and African accent. The last few years, though, we were able to welcome more and more Dutch visitors and visitors from other cultures.

FAQ

Frequently Asked Questions

Who or what is Kwaku?

At the Dr. Sophie Redmondstraat in Paramaribo there is the statue of Kwaku. The origin of this statue can be found in the Surinam culture. In 1963 the statue was unveiled at the celebration that 100 years before slavery was abolished in Surinam. A Surinam artist, Jozef Klas, designed the statue.

What does Kwaku mean?

In the African tradition it is common that children carry the name of the day they were born; especially males who a re born on a Wednesday, received the name Kwaku. This is the case with a lot of Surinam males with African background.

On July 1st 1863 slavery was abolished in Surinam. A hundred years after that a statue of an unleashed slave was unveiled to remember this. The statue is a symbol for emancipation. And since July 1st 1863 was on a Wednesday, the statue was named Kwaku.

How did the festival start?

The festival started in the year 1975 as a soccer tournament for the people who stayed home during the summer holidays in Amsterdam Southeast. The festival was mainly visited by people who lived in Amsterdam Southeast and this made the festival multicultural from the very beginning. During the years the festival has developed into one of the biggest multicultural manifestations attracting about one million visitors. Fifty percent of those are from Amsterdam and the surrounding area, the other half comes from all parts of the Netherlands. Most visitors are from minority groups with a strong Surinam, Antillian and African accent. The last few years, though, we were able to welcome more and more Dutch visitors and visitors from other cultures.

Kwaku is famous for its great atmosphere

Through the years the festival has become an event where old friends of all ages and from all cultures meet (again). The festival’s atmosphere is warm, cheerful, colourful, exciting, educational, relaxed and with a lot of humour and happiness everywhere.

The festival gives the feeling of a tropical holiday and of leisure with plenty of activities, entertainment and information.

This is why our slogan is: It’s Kwakoe time, feel Kwakoe!

No entrance fee for Kwaku

The festival gets its income from renting out stalls, from participation and from the collection at the entrance. The workers are mostly volunteers. Every year we succeed in making all ends meet. You as a visitor can also contribute to us holding the festival for free: by giving a donation to the collectors, every little bit helps