Great Bay:-- St. Maarten (September 29, 2009) – Dancer Nicole de Weever and artist Maximillian Phelipa were the two St. Maarten cultural workers whose talent and dedication to their art has earned them the recognition of the Executive Council represented by Commissioner of Tourism Frans Richardson.
At an awards ceremony held at the Dr. A. C. Wathey Legislative Hall on Sunday, September 27, 2009, to mark World Tourism Day, Commissioner Frans Richardson named them “Special Ambassadors” of St. Maarten.
Nicole de Weever, who is currently featured in a Broadway show that will be premiered at the Eugene O’Neil Theatre on November 23, 2009, was unable to attend the ceremony, however, her parents, Rudy and Beatrice de Weever, received the plaque honoring her on her behalf.
A graduate of New York University’s Dance Department and a former Motiance Dance School student, Nicole’s picture already graces the marquee of the Eugene O’Neil Theatre where she will be dancing in the hit musical, Fela!, directed and choreographed by Tony Award winner, Bill T. Jones, with the financial backing of mega-stars Jay-Z and Will Smith.
“Listen nuh, I’m a child of the world, yeah, but I from right here; I’m a proud St. Martiner,” Nicole said in an interview in the World Tourism Day newspaper supplement, “Celebrating Diversity”, published by the St. Maarten Tourist Bureau on Friday, September 25, 2009.
She added: “I have been blessed to travel the world as an artist/cultural ambassador on various musical tours, performing on world stages that have taken me to numerous countries in Asia and Europe. In many of these places, there were some differences in comparison to my direct environment but they were also so similar. The more you travel, the more you realize how less different we really are as human beings.”
Commissioner Frans Richardson was full of praise for her, adding that she is an example of how talented St. Maarten youth are, and a role model of how far they could reach once they focus on developing their talents.
“Through her dance, Nicole is also promoting St. Maarten. I am very proud of the fact that a St. Maartener is featured in a major hit musical on Broadway. I’m sure that is just the beginning because certainly the success of the show will take it to other world capitals and in each place, we can proudly say our own daughter of the soil is there,” the Commissioner remarked. He added that he would be in attendance at the premiere of the show in November to cheer on Nicole in her Broadway debut and exhorted other St. Maarteners who might be in the New York area to do the same because “she is doing all of us proud.”
Turning to Max Phelipa, he said he was a proud owner of one of the artist’s paintings and stressed that there was a segment of tourists who love art and who could be attracted to the island through the works of artists like Phelipa. Phelipa is the only Netherlands Antillean artist who will be participating in a group exhibition at the Antillen Huis in Holland in October. He was invited to represent the Netherlands Antilles by Prime Minister Emily de Jongh Elhage. The artist received his award in person, accompanied by his wife, Aggie. The St. Maarten Tourist Office also made a contribution towards Phelipa’s impending trip to The Netherlands.