The Soualigan Giants during the Summer Festival Road Parade in Anguilla.
PHILIPSBURG--The Funtopia Youth Initiative Foundation (FYIF) recently took its Soualigan Giants Moko Jumbies to Anguilla, where the group participated in the Anguilla Summer Festival Road Parade in collaboration with Players Troupe and Calypso Charters. For FYIF, the trip provided young cultural performers from St. Maarten with an opportunity to experience Caribbean cultural exchange first-hand while performing alongside other regional creatives.
The Soualigan Giants were created to give young people opportunities to learn, practise and perform traditional cultural activities. Their participation in the Anguilla parade allowed the performers to represent St. Maarten while being introduced to another island's carnival traditions and creative community.
The project also involved cultural partners from several Caribbean islands. The Soualigan Giants represented St. Maarten and participated in Anguilla, while specially created Moko Jumbie costumes were produced by creators in Trinidad and Tobago.
The connection between the cultural partners was further supported by Eldon Gumbs of Legendary Mokos, based in Florida, who helped facilitate the collaboration. The weekend also saw Players Troupe's "Guardians of Paradise" presentation receive several awards, including Band of the Year 2026, Most Colourful Troupe, King of the Band and Queen of the Band.
FYIF said the experience demonstrated the opportunities that can come from collaboration between the Caribbean cultural practitioners and organisations. The Foundation said exchanges such as the Anguilla trip are particularly valuable for young cultural practitioners, as they provide exposure to different production standards, costume design, carnival traditions, audiences and creative professionals.
According to FYIF, opportunities to travel and perform can also help young performers develop relationships with other cultural practitioners, potentially leading to future training, performances and regional collaborations. The Foundation sees the Soualigan Giants as more than a performance group, describing the programme as a way for young performers to gain experience while introducing aspects of St. Maarten's culture to audiences elsewhere in the Caribbean.
FYIF congratulated Players Troupe on its 2026 presentation and thanked Calypso Charters, Gumbs and Legendary Moko, the Trinidad and Tobago costume creators, performers, families and others involved in the exchange. The Anguilla trip brought together cultural performers and creatives from several parts of the Caribbean, providing the young Soualigan Giants with an opportunity to perform outside St. Maarten while taking part in a wider regional cultural exchange.
