STATIA INSTALLS CULTURAL HERITAGE IMPLEMENTATION COMMITTEE - engagement community is a priority -
The local government of St. Eustatius has recently installed the Statia Cultural Heritage Implementation Committee (SCHIC). The mandate of this committee is to engage the community in the recommendations of the Statia Heritage Research Commission (SHRC) and to explore fundingopportunities to carry out these recommendations.
With the installation of SCHIC, the SHRC has been dissolved. SHRC was appointed in the third quarter of 2021 to investigate the excavations at the Golden Rock 2021 site (GR2021) and to cumulate that investigation into a report which provided recommendations for the future safeguarding of the cultural heritage of Statia. SHRC presented its final report of findings and recommendations to the Island Council, stakeholders, and the community on January 25th, 2022. The Executive Council has pledged to adopt and implement the SHRC recommendations.
Members SCHIC
The selection of the SCHIC committee members was done in close consultation with the St. Eustatius African Burial Ground Alliance which was founded in 2021 by Mr. Kenneth Cuvalay. Three members of this Alliance are represented in SCHIC. The remaining members are members of a committee established in 2020 by the local government named The Dialogue Committee for Fostering the Dialogue on Slavery and Emancipation.
The 8 committee members of SCHIC are: Raimie Richardson (historian), Jean-Marie Molina (philosophical educator), Paul Spanner (community leader), Xiomara Balentina (psychologist), Petra Ploeg (scientific information specialist), Peggy King Jorde (cultural consultant), Felicia Fricke (osteoarcheologist) and Nasha Radjouki (civil servant at the Culture Department).