~ Alston Lourens now President ~
PHILIPSBURG--St. Maarten Carnival Development Foundation (SCDF) formalised its new structure last week by electing a new board with a new president. It also formalised the newly-established director position. Former SCDF Media Director Alston Lourens was elected President and long-time SCDF member Chabely Cortico was elected Vice President.
In the process, SCDF continued its movement towards “getting younger” by promoting its two youngest board members to the Presidency and Vice Presidency. As SCDF had explained on numerous occasions, the appointment of long-time SCDF President Mike Granger as director was made to give Carnival the full-time, year-round attention it requires considering the festival’s growth and extensive future plans.
Granger, who reports directly to the board, had one year left on his four-year term as President (until August 2017) and carried director responsibilities as well. To effectively meet its goals, in particular those of increased self-sufficiency, SCDF opted to separate the two positions by holding early elections when a new president would be elected.
Granger becomes Carnival’s full time Director in charge of SCDF’s day-to-day business under supervision of the board. His position is particularly important as SCDF still comprises volunteers with day-to-day jobs and other non-Carnival-related responsibilities. Granger has served SCDF in one capacity or another since 1999.
The rest of the board basically remained the same: Franciane Peterson as Secretary, Vida Boyrard as Assistant Secretary, Edwardo Radjouki and Roland Rommy as board members. SCDF will fill two open board positions in the next few weeks after the departures of Giovanni Radjouki and Malcolm Cooper from the board. Lourens and Granger will carry responsibility for SCDF’s finances while Patricia Rogers will maintain her function as office manager.
“I am fortunate to have been elected to this position at a time when public and regional opinion of St. Maarten Carnival is at an all-time high due to the hard work and dedication of the past president, this board, the revellers, bands, artistes, promoters and our esteemed corporate sponsors,” Lourens said. “I believe the challenges of this term are to convince this country, and then the world, that its best product is its biggest event, which is Carnival.
“This country’s economy relies on tourism, and while the authorities in charge of the economy (tourism) are constantly looking for exciting and memorable experiences to offer and promote, to lure the rest of the world and its money to St. Maarten, Carnival, the biggest most exciting most memorable event on St. Maarten, still struggles to find the support needed on all levels to properly run its operation.”
He said that while other Caribbean countries had used a festival or even created a festival to boost their tourism products, like North Sea Jazz in Curaçao, St. Kitts Music Festival, St. Lucia Jazz, Dominica CreoleFest, “our country still seems reluctant to get behind our Carnival with the same gusto.”
Every member of the SCDF Board has put “blood, sweat and tears” into this festival for years and some for decades. “I feel I am the luckiest president ever, because I am surrounded and supported by this board of experienced, dedicated Carnival-lovers who have literally brought this festival to this unprecedented level of success. It is now time to go global and show the world what we have to offer,” Lourens said.
Granger said the election of Lourens and Cortico was a prime example of SCDF’s mission to become younger whenever it can. “You cannot replace experience, but it is important for any entity to groom its young members and prepare them to take over one day. Young people bring new ideas, fresh perspectives and new networks into Carnival. We are very proud of our history of grooming and elevating from within,” he said.
“When you have young dedicated members, you have to trust their abilities; you have to give them the opportunity to put their stamp on Carnival. We have the fullest confidence in Alston to lead the board. He is a supremely dedicated, out-of-the-box forward thinker and Carnival-lover. The function of President is not an easy task, far from it, but Alston can take comfort in knowing that he is surrounded by people who love Carnival and want to see it continue to grow.”
Granger added that the “great thing” about the SCDF was that titles and positions were exactly that, titles and positions. Teamwork, he stressed, is the fuel that drives Carnival’s engine.
“For formality and legal purposes we have to do things by the book in terms of structure, but when we work, we work as a team, regardless of titles. We believe that early preparation leads to better execution and that’s where the task of the Director comes in. But truly, when it is time to execute for Carnival, it is Team SCDF,” Granger said.
There will be several upcoming announcements regarding Carnival 2017. SCDF can be contacted via email at
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