Panama: Arts & Media

Panamanian visual art reflects the country's layered cultural history, with contemporary painters, sculptors, and printmakers working alongside enduring indigenous craft traditions. Figurative painter Olga Sinclair and printmaker Alicia Viteri number among the country's best-known modern visual artists, while Carlos Francisco Chang Marín worked across both painting and writing. Among the Guna people of the San Blas islands, women create molas, intricately layered reverse-appliqué textile panels traditionally worn as blouse panels that have become one of Panama's most recognized indigenous art forms internationally, while the Emberá and Wounaan peoples are known for finely woven baskets made from natural plant fibers.

Panamanian literary tradition dates to the colonial period, when writing consisted largely of histories and religious texts produced under Spanish rule. The poet Ricardo Miró, active in the early twentieth century, is regarded as the country's most celebrated literary figure, and the Ricardo Miró National Literary Prize, Panama's most prestigious literary award, was established in his honor.

Panama's music reflects its position as a crossroads of the Americas, with local styles including tamborito, mejorana, and punto sitting alongside Panamanian contributions to salsa, jazz, and reggae en español. Grammy-winning salsa musician Rubén Blades and jazz pianist Danilo Pérez are among the country's most internationally recognized musicians, while performers such as El General helped popularize reggae en español across Latin America beginning in the 1990s. Panama City remains the country's media hub, home to national television networks and the Panama City Center for the Arts, which hosts rotating exhibitions and community arts programming.