PHILIPSBURG:--- The Department of Culture within the Ministry of Education, Culture, Youth and Sport (MECYS) is pleased to announce that young
St. Maarten performing artist Jeremiah David has been awarded with the Department’s first ‘Neville York Talent Scholarship’ in honor of the late and former Department Head of Culture and local musical icon Mr. Neville Chester York.
Jeremiah David, a student of Dance since age of 5 at Imbali Center for Creative movement and currently at the National Institute of Arts, is now a 17-year-old student attending the Charlotte Brookson Academy of the Performing Arts (CBA).
One month after hurricane Irma, in October 2017 Mr. David was selected as part of a team of young Artist who were sponsored by Fina Dance Art School, Ecole de Danse, Dance School Turning Point and Dance Curaçao to assist St. Maarten artists who had experienced the cataclysmic hurricane Irma. There at the Dance Curacao 2017 Festival, Jeremiah so impressed his teachers, the guest teachers from Broadway Dance Center, that he was awarded a partial scholarship to attend their summer intensive.
Jeremiah is a recent winner of Telcell Breakthrough in the Dance Technique Category, a scholarship recipient of the Art Saves Lives summer exchange to New York 2015, as well as recipient of the 2017 Prins Bernard Culture Funds sponsored tour to Curacao and Aruba where he performed at Kosecha Cultural and Aruba Art Festival. Mr. David’s accomplishments include winning gold medal in Ballet , Outre Style and modern contemporary at the French Federation of Dance competition both regionally in Guadeloupe and St. Barth as well as internationally in, France.
The Department of Culture and the entire arts education community strives to promote talent development and exposure of St. Maarten youth through a variety of modes of expression. When given the right opportunity, young person’s such as Jeremiah are able to build capacity while learning from some of the best performers in the world. However, due to the expensive nature of attending such programs, many young artists are unable to attend. We are therefore proud to designate this subsidy as the ‘Neville York Talent Scholarship’ as Mr. York was a strong proponent of talent development, particularly for the young people of St. Maarten. We aim to support young creatives like Jeremiah David and maximize potential locally as well as abroad.
The Department of Culture congratulates Mr. David, his family and his teachers at the National Institute of Arts and Charlotte Brookson Academy for the Performance Arts and all his mentors on his artistic achievement. Indeed, it takes a village to nurture and support the children in our community. The Department commends the additional support Mr. David received from the Lions club, TelCell, the staff of SMMC and DW Accounting.
Kindly contact the Department of Culture via 721-520-5340 and/or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. for official application criteria for the ‘Neville York Talent Scholarship.’
