Culture & Arts Platform

Purpose, Pride & Professionalism – CAP3  is an interdisciplinary afterschool program that uses arts as a vehicle for children to access St. Maarten and the Caribbean’s intangible and tangible cultural heritage.  Through this collaboration, which involves the input of artists from various disciplines ranging from the visual to the performing arts, to sculptures, arts and craft, film, video, photography and storytelling, stilt-walking, makajumbi, children will learn various art disciplines while being exposed to the islands culture and forming a sense of cultural identity, while instilling national pride.

  

This program will ensure that students will have access to the widest spectrum of the

 St. Maarten experience, as has been documented by the artists through a variety of disciplines. Children will be educated in interdisciplinary arts and will then be able to create their own art pieces and use them as a means to express their own experiences about what they have learnt.

 

CAP3 Purpose, Pride, Purpose (all year continuous program)

 

It is a Cultural and Arts Platform created by NIA to educate students in the culture and artistry of St.Maarten, the region and the world.  It is specifically designed to use the arts as a vehicle to access the tangible and intangible cultural traditions of St.Maarten and the region.  And vise versa use the cultural traditions as vehicle to be introduced to the arts, artistry, and art making.  Much of St.Maarten Story has been preserved through the arts. Our poets, dancers, oral historian, musicians, visual artists all highly trained and skilled artist have been passionately recounting the glorious St.Maarten story. The children will be engaged in a training process that centers on exploration, skills training artistic development and cultural studies. 

 

NIA CAP3 goal is to create the space that allows the students to grow artistically with sound basic and fundamental technique in the various disciplines. 

In the NIA CAP3 program, the arts are a magical place for children. It is a place where a child will be encouraged to be child like.  We promote and celebrate the innocence of child hood. Too many children are growing up exposed and subjected to listening and watching adult content programing.  At NIA, we make a concentrated effort to offer a platform where our students are immersed in age appropriate content in music, dance vocabulary, children plays, and songs.

 

CAP3 Purpose, Pride, Professionalism. Is offered both as an In- school and Afterschool program and is currently in 6 elementary schools under auspices of the Catholic School Board.

 

CAPS 3 offers classes in the following disciplines:

 

Theatre

 

Dance

• Popular dance

• Traditional dance 

• Folkdances, 

• Brain dance creative dance, 

• Hip-hop

• African

 

Voice

• Vocal training exercises

• Diction exercise

• Solfege

 

Drumming

• Fundamental technique for drumming

• African and Caribbean rhythms

 

Spoken word 

 

Poetry 

 

Gymnastics

• Fundamentals tumbling skills

• Floor routines

 

Musical theatre

• Combining dance drama and song

 

Yoga

• Mind body breathe connections

 

Arts and craft

• Basics skills

• Cutting

• Creating projects

• Hands on training

 

D’Ym 

• Combined dance and gymnastics

 

D’Oga 

• Combined dance and yoga

 

All of these activities are created with the purpose to engage the child holistically and develop strong coordinated, flexible bodies and minds, capable of creative and critical thinking skills and well versed in cultural knowledge and St.Maarten cultural Icons. 

 

Students are introduced to: St. Maarten traditions in song poetry and dance. Students learn the Ponum dance, and other dances such as the 3-step polka and various other waltzes danced to the music of:

 

• Music of Tanny and the Boys, 

• Jolly Boys, 

• Bologne Boys

 

 

Students will also learn St. Maarten’s literature. 

 

Exploring the written works of celebrated artists such as: 

 

• Ruby Bute,

• Lasana sekou,  

• Esther Bradshaw, 

• Drisana Deborah Jack, 

• Charles boromeo Hodge, 

• Laurel Richards,  

• Lysanne Charles, 

• Lucinda Audain, 

• Tamara Groeneveldt

• Rachel Ward 

 

And many others that can be found in the anthology of “Where I see the sun” published by House of Nehesi.

 

For this artistic year 2014-2015, NIA Teachers will be using the children theatrical production of “Anansi and the Great Salt Pond” written by Iris Hakkens, and translated for stage play by Clara Reyes, as the core content for teaching. 

 

Because of its interdisciplinary nature, Anansi and the Great the Salt Pond will be an exponent of the following disciplines: * Drama, *Dance, *Vocals   &   *Musical theater. The Play will also serve as a tool to bring awareness about the environment and history.