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Published On: Sun, Jun 2nd, 2019

Masterclass workshops in St. Maarten bring media professionals together

MasterClass Media St. Maarten Group Photo - 31 May 2019

CUPECOY — The AUC campus in Cupecoy was the location of an interesting gathering this past week. The medical university saw a group of media professionals from different backgrounds in St. Maarten coming together to participate in a series of workshops organized by Press Center Nieuwspoort and the Rotary Club Nieuwspoort in The Netherlands. The masterclass sessions were financed through funding raised in the Netherlands after the passing of hurricane Irma in 2017 in support of the media on St. Maarten.

MasterClass Media trainers - May 2019

The series of workshops were held under the banner ‘MasterClass Media St. Maarten’ and took place from Monday, May 27th, until Saturday, June 1st, 2019. The trainers were freelance cameraman and photographer, Tim van Dijk, former NRC-correspondent and media strategist, Freek Staps, and radio and tv host and all-round journalist Elles de Bruin. The topics discussed during the workshops ranged from video and photography, journalism, interview techniques to internet strategies and how to make money online with content and advertising.

Freek Staps journalism workshop - May 2019

The masterclass sessions were deemed a huge success and already reports are being published online about the classes, including a report on Dutch Caribbean news site Caribisch Netwerk and a special report by Freek Staps on LinkedIn. Elles de Bruin recorded several interviews with the participants after her session. Therefore, video reports coming out of The Netherlands can be expected as well after De Bruin returns back home.

Clearly, the participants caught the social media bug big time as they were inspired to immediately form a Whatsapp chat group. The group plans to meet regularly to exchange and share ideas, knowledge and experiences. The first gathering of the group was at Buffalo Wings at the Paradise Mall in Cole Bay to celebrate the end of the week long training sessions.

Participants are looking forward to seeing more workshops and training sessions being organized on the island and also ideas for a media cafe and a media organization were discussed by some members of the group.

MasterClass Media St. Maarten - 31 May 2019

Photo caption: Group photo of the media professionals attending the MasterClass Media workshops in St. Maarten organized with funding raised in the Netherlands after the passing of hurricane Irma in 2017. Photo by Sarina Alexander.

Photos above: with Freek Staps (l), Tim van Dijk (c) and Elles de Bruin (r) walking on the AUC campus grounds to their Masterclass Media classes. Photos taken from Freek Staps’ LinkedIn page.