Artists, primary sponsors, government representatives, tour companies and other supporters attending the opening tour of @colormesxm by Be The Change Foundation.
PHILIPSBURG--Be The Change Foundation (BTC), with the help of local artists, sponsors and volunteers, has added eight new murals to the Philipsburg area. The results were recently officially “unveiled” during an opening tour and breakfast ceremony to celebrate the project’s participating artists and main sponsors.
The project, called @colormesxm, aims to add colour and art to St. Maarten through murals, promote local artists, and encourage residents and visitors to explore less-visited areas and share the island’s beauty through photographs on social-media platforms.
Nine artists helped complete the eight new photo-friendly murals in Philipsburg: Claudio Arnell, Tes and Annabelle Verheij, Nascha Kagie, Lucia Trifan, Jessica Murtha, Adam G, Magueda Jackson and Jimmy “Mash” Sabas. Over 200 volunteers engaged in the project, helping to prepare, clean, scrape or paint the walls.
Project coordinator Laura Bijnsdorp said, “The foundation and artists have received an overwhelmingly positive response from the community. We would like to thank everyone who motivated our artists through compliments, offering refreshments or a helping hand.”
During the opening tour, the artists presented their murals and shared some of the feedback they received from the community.
Artist Lucia Trifan presents her mural and its representation of freedom. The mural is placed on the homes of senior citizens along Tamarinde Steeg.
Other attendees of the tour included representatives from the primary funding agency Resources for Community Resilience R4CR, co-sponsors the Dutch Representation Office in St. Maarten VNP, General Pension Fund St. Maarten, Sherwin Williams, tour company WeAreSXM, guests from the Department of Culture and the Ministry of Tourism, Economic Affairs, Transport and Telecommunication and the media.
Also present were BTC’s financial advisor Kaishah Peters and Frances Rovelet from the Down Street Business and Community Council Association, who helped identify available walls in Philipsburg.
PPG Paints St. Maarten, Drywall Systems, Tri-Sport, Adam Robb, Bart van der Meijden, Armond Solomons, Family Sprott and several other companies or individuals also contributed to the project.
Since 2020, the @colormesxm project has helped to add over 20 murals to town. Persons can find these murals through a free map, available on
www.colormesxm.com. Signs are also placed next to all the murals, on which persons can learn more about the artist and the project and find a Quick Response (QR) code to access the projects’ Instagram, map and videos. In addition, the Philipsburg Art Walk activity can also be found on TripAdvisor.
Artist Claudio Arnell’s mural “A Fisherman’s Tale” celebrates St. Maarten’s fishermen and fishing traditions. The mural wraps around a large building opposite Walter Plantz Square.
The project’s first phase focused on Philipsburg, primarily on Front Street, Back Street, and the connecting alleyways. This second phase added murals to the “Down Street” area.
The second phase of this @colormesxm project has been funded by the government of the Netherlands under the St. Maarten Trust Fund through R4CR, administered by the Association of Dutch Municipalities VNG International, overseen by the World Bank.
Besides @colormesxm, BTC executes a number of community efforts throughout the year to support volunteerism and the work of other non-governmental organisations. SXM Doet, scholarships, small grants and beautification projects are a few examples of the foundation’s initiatives over the past years.
