PHILIPSBURG:--- On Thursday, 15 October 2026, more than 60 guests gathered at the Belair Community Center in Cay Hill for the Let’s ACT program's Final Showcase. The evening marked the close of a two-year program that supported nine local organizations in bringing their cultural, artistic, and heritage projects to life across the island.
The St. Maarten Development Fund (SMDF) and Foresee Foundation (4C) organized Let's ACT in St. Maarten, in partnership with CEDE Aruba, and made it possible with funding from the Fonds voor Cultuurparticipatie (FCP) in the Netherlands. The Final Showcase brought together the participating NGOs, their partners, artists, and community members to see the results, hear from the people behind the projects, and celebrate what collective investment in culture can achieve.
Hosted by MCs Melanie Choisy and Kevin “Suppa Kid” Petrona, the program opened with the performance of the St. Martin Song. Every guest also left with a gift fitting for the night: a portion of clay wrapped in tropical local fabric, ready to be shaped into their own pottery, and a necklace with a pendant made from locally recycled plastic from Perpetual Plastics by EPIC.
“Our culture is priceless. But the materials have a price. In her welcome address on behalf of the organizers, Makhicia “Maki” Brooks, Director of SMDF, said arts and culture had been new ground for SMDF and that building the program with CEDE Aruba and Foresee showed how much these spaces give the community.
“Let’s ACT was designed to bring arts, culture, and heritage closer to people who don’t always have access to the beauty of us,” Brooks said. “The grandmother who remembers promenading in beautiful frocks could relive that moment during the S’Maatin Day Cultural Parade. The shy thespian found his voice at Total Theatre. And the young girl who grew up hearing about coal pots made one herself. I am the young girl, by the way.”
She stressed that the talent and knowledge were already on the island: “We love to say, ‘Our culture is priceless.’ And it is. But the materials have a price. Transportation has a price. And the people sharing their talents deserve to be paid — a commitment we took seriously.” She closed by asking the room to “give the organizations their flowers and appreciate what we have right here at home.”
Koert Kerkhoff of the Department of Culture thanked SMDF, 4C Foundation and the participating NGOs for their work. In a video message, Daniel Tecklenborg, Director of CEDE Aruba, congratulated the organizations and said he looks forward to continuing to work with St. Maarten, its NGO sector, and his Let’s ACT partners SMDF and Foresee Foundation (4C).
The Fonds voor Cultuurparticipatie, unable to attend in person, sent congratulations from Utrecht. “Culture is not just about art. It is about people. About identity, belonging, creativity, and the strength of communities,” the Fund wrote. “What makes Let’s ACT particularly meaningful to us is that these projects have grown from within the communities of St. Maarten. They reflect local ideas, local talent, and local ambitions.” The Fund thanked CEDE Aruba, SMDF and Foresee Foundation for their partnership, and added: “We hope this is only the beginning.”
The National Institute of Arts (NIA) opened the presentations. NIA’s Loes Nauta shared that the project ‘Total Theater’ trained 95 performers, ages 6 to 80, in dance, vocals, percussion and other performance skills. A group of 9 teenage participants who did not want to stop when the program ended have become junior teachers, a testament to Total Theater’s success. Loes also led the evening’s lively icebreaker that challenged guests to perform the exact opposite of the instruction she announced.
Menelik Arnell of Art Agency Foundation shared how their project, Hair Stories by True Roots, tackled hair discrimination and built hair pride through hands-on lessons in caring for natural hair. Its workshops drew 38 attendees. Menelik also highlighted how Hair Stories' success led to its integration into broader cultural initiatives, including the AfroKarib Festival in June 2026, helping ensure the program’s continuity and lasting impact.
On behalf of the St. Maarten National Heritage Foundation & Museum, Glenda York thanked the Let’s Act program for allowing their project, Tours of Culture, to create historic trolley rides through town, reaching over 100 people.
Pete Valies spoke for the SXM Creatives Guild and invited creatives to join as the Guild recruits members and builds its foundation.
Donna Morrison of Hearts United Holistic Care Foundation screened a snippet of the oral history documentary Stories from the Heart, in which seniors look back on the island's past. Partner Mark Yokoyama of Les Fruits de Mer presented the book they created from some of the stories the documentary brought out.
Fleur Hermanides represented EPIC and presented on Perpetual Plastics' success, and guests could see the products and the recycling machine up close at EPIC’s table.
Saskia Kliphuis of Milton Peters College (MPC) presented the school’s collaboration with NIA, which offered ceramics and pottery workshops to youth and adults, with 117 participants in all. After their project, Break Free Kliphuis said the goal is to now start a ceramics movement on the island.
Let’s Talk Foundation co-founders Xhenji Wyatt and Darryl York recalled that 200 people attended their first Let’s ACT event, “Where Creativity Meets Economy.” Local artists Elona and Dr. Rum shared testimonials about what the project meant to them.
Students from the American University of the Caribbean (AUC), under the guidance of Dr. Natalie Humphrey, presented findings from the EPEC community engagement research conducted within Let’s ACT with Howard University. During Let’s ACT, they helped the NGOs collect data and reflect on how they engage their communities.
To end the evening, the St. Maarten National Cultural Parade Foundation presented its work as a skit. Ladies dressed in folkloric St. Maarten flower fabric shared the island’s traditional heritage—the donkey race, the dancing of the Ponum, and the music of Tanny and the Boys.
“What we saw tonight is the visible part of two years of work,” said Jose Sommers, Co-Director of Foresee Foundation (4C). “Behind every presentation is an organization that has grown stronger — in how it plans, manages its money, tells its story and connects with others, here and in Aruba. That capacity stays on the island. Our task now is to build on it, so that the next chapter of cultural participation on St. Maarten starts from a stronger core.”
After the presentations and a group photo of all projects, speakers, partners, and the organizing team, the evening moved into the Let’s ACT Cultural Playground and dinner. Guests sat down to paint ceramic Christmas ornaments on the spot or gathered around EPIC’s Perpetual Plastics products and machine.
Filled with laughter, culture, creativity, collaboration, and community, the Final Showcase marked the official close of the Let’s ACT program on St. Maarten, with some remaining project components to be completed in the coming months.
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