GREAT BAY--Minister of Education, Culture, Youth and Sport Melissa Gumbs has outlined a vision to transform the Belvedere South Plantation property into a culture and heritage park where St. Maarten residents, particularly young people and schoolchildren, can physically experience the island’s history, traditions, food and cultural practices.
Gumbs said during a radio interview Tuesday that her vision for the site is not primarily tourism-driven. While visitors would be welcome, she said the facility should first be a cultural space for the people of St. Maarten.
“My vision then and the Ministry’s vision is to make it a culture and heritage park that is for us. Yes, visitors can come in, but it is primarily for us,” Gumbs said.
The Minister said she wants a space where young people and schools can engage directly with culture in a safe environment rather than experiencing local history only through books, classroom discussions or occasional celebrations.
Her concept was influenced in part by cultural experiences she encountered elsewhere in the Caribbean.
Gumbs recalled visiting Nevis for its Mango Festival in July, where one of the stops during a cultural food tour was a heritage park. She described seeing traditional food preparation, coconuts being cut and young people performing traditional masquerade dances connected to the island’s history.
What stood out to her was that the experience was interactive.
The heritage park gave young people a place where culture could be seen, tasted, performed and experienced, rather than merely explained.
“They have that space to engage with their culture in that way. We don’t really have that,” Gumbs said. “And I think that for me is something that I would like to change.”
She said the Belvedere South Plantation property provides an opportunity to begin addressing that gap.
Gumbs said the property has already been purchased and contains a significant amount of land, making it suitable for a broader cultural concept rather than a single building or attraction.
The Minister said young people should be able to physically interact with what they are learning.
“They have to be able to touch it,” she said.
She linked that approach to practical learning methods, including STEAM education, explaining that learning does not have to revolve around screens or classroom instruction. Working with one’s hands, interacting with cultural practices and participating directly in an activity can also form part of education.
Gumbs also stressed that developing the cultural sector should not mean reducing St. Maarten’s identity to Carnival.
“Carnival is a big part of it, but it’s not the only thing,” she said.
She said there are other ways to invite residents and visitors into St. Maarten’s culture that are not centered on a party or large entertainment event. A permanent cultural and heritage facility could create opportunities for traditional food preparation, storytelling, historical interpretation, performances, workshops and other forms of cultural expression throughout the year.
Gumbs also drew on her experiences at CARIFESTA in Barbados and cultural facilities in Nevis, where permanent outdoor and recreational spaces are used to stage cultural activities and festivals.
She said those experiences demonstrated that cultural development can involve creating the physical spaces in which culture can be practiced and passed from one generation to the next.
For Gumbs, the proposed Belvedere park would therefore serve several purposes: preserving heritage, creating a place for cultural education, providing schools with a practical learning environment and giving cultural practitioners a location in which to present traditions throughout the year.
The Minister did not announce a construction timeline or budget for the proposed development during the interview.
