Minister of Education, Culture, Youth and Sport Rodolphe Samuel (right) and NIA director Arlene Halley-Newhouse “shaking a leg” during the meet-and-greet event at Emilio’s restaurant on Sunday, April 30.
CUL DE SAC--National Institute of Arts (NIA), with collaboration of Emilio’s restaurant owners Norman and Sue Wathey, hosted a meet-and-greet event on Sunday afternoon, April 30, for visiting artists of the Cultural Exchange Programme initiated with Kunst Circuit Holland and NIA.
The event was attended by distinguished guests such as Minister of Education, Culture, Youth and Sport Rodolphe Samuel, Prince Bernhard Culture Fund Caribbean Territory representative Candia Joseph, Resources for Community Resilience R4CR representative Jose Verschueren, NPOwer representative Rajesh Chintaman, Nascha Kagie of Kids Club, Island Gems Charity Foundation president Alita Singh, parents, and Base4Dance visiting artists director Manon van ’t Spijker with her assistants Samantha and Eva, glass artist Annemarie van Uden and visual artist and model maker Rob van Putten.
Entertainment was provided by the Youth Orchestra fused with Family String Band in a programme called “Culturismo”, a programme of 10 folkloric songs that had the audience’s feet tapping, heads bobbing and bodies moving.
As a surprise to the young musicians, NIA was able to gift egg shakers received from Cultuur Participatie as a thank you for a previous presentation and a monetary token as first “earned tips” from the three Culturismo shows done so far.
The visiting artists conducted several workshops in St. Maarten for the public and NIA students, ranging from dance, glass sculpting and the making of maquettes, to jewellery. Extensive video footage was taken to display the workshop products during their recital in the Netherlands, called Art2Fuse, on June 11, 2023.
Plans for this artistic and cultural exchange were set in motion last year, with an introductory grass-roots initiative by visual artist Gustave Nouel-Croes who visited St. Maarten in July to conduct two street-painting workshops. In turn, NIA director Arlene Halley-Newhouse visited Base4Dance in October 2022, imparting her skills in ballet and introducing some more cultural contemporary moves to the musical rendition of the St. Maarten Rhumba.
The goals of this exchange network is to share knowledge and expertise, learn and exchange cultures and establish links and connections throughout the Kingdom of the Netherlands.
NIA artists Silvia Carty-Rozema, Jonathan van Arneman and Halley-Newhouse visited the Netherlands April 3-10, 2023 where they offered workshops in dance, Carnival-themed pop-art and miniature Carnival-pieces workshops. Classes were imparted in Kunst Circuit, DAK and in Kunstwerkt. An auction was organised by Kunstwerkt for future exchange and an exhibition called “Droombestemming” (“Dream Destination”) was organised by Kunst Circuit.
The visitors were so enchanted with the programme that more opportunities are on the horizon, NIA said. NIA directors thanked Island Gems Charity Foundation for always supporting NIA, This year, NIA was donated a piano trolley and a copier.
NIA also thanked all other organisations, businesses, teachers and musicians, and all attendees who contributed to a “delightful afternoon” in celebration of NIA’s 10th anniversary.
