Ruby Bute Highlighted in 2024 SHTA Event Calendar
Well known island artist Ruby Bute will be featured in the St. Maarten Hospitality & Trade Association (SHTA) Event Calendar’s 2024 edition. In collaboration with the French tourism office (Office de Tourisme de St. Martin) and SHTA, Ruby Bute is selected to be on the cover of the calendar.
Ruby was born in Aruba to parents from St. Maarten. She grew up in an area called the Village, which was home to settlers who worked at the Lago oil refinery. Ruby relocated to St. Maarten in the early 1970s. Ruby, has been painting since the age of six.
Ruby Bute has built a name for herself as a sympathetic chronicler of island life. She is a self-taught and extremely accomplished artist, as well as a well-loved instructor, who spends her time painting in her studio and running her gallery, the 'Silk Cotton Grove Art Gallery,' which is located at her Friars Bay home and home to one of the island's oldest, ancient Silk-Cotton trees.
Ruby worked actively in cultural activities on the island and abroad: story-telling, art workshops, summer camps for children etc., as well as working for a time with inmates at the prison. In 2005, Ruby Bute was decorated by her Majesty, Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands. Today, she is one of St. Martin's leading painters, an acclaimed poet and a dedicated art-teacher.
Bute is honored to be this year’s cultural icon of choice and is grateful for the nomination of the SHTA and Office de Tourisme de St. Martin. In addition, she is delighted to collaborate with the calendar’s design talent, Loic Bryan.
Previously, icon King Beau Beau and Roland Richardson were the St. Maarten cultural professionals featured on the 2023 and 2022 editions respectively.
St. Maarten’s largest spirit and beverage distributor, International Liquors and Tobacco trading N.V. (ILTT) is enthusiastic about its ongoing 8-year partnership with SHTA to out this calendar together. ILTT is a big promoter and sponsor of many events and activities and aims to assist in the creations of a broad set of events and activities for a broad demographic of the local population and visitors alike. The 2024 calendar is expected to highlight that St Maarten/Sint Maarten is a lively destination.
SHTA calls on companies and NGO’s looking to highlight their 2024 events to send their events to events@shta.com before 9 th of October. St. Maarten residents can order their free copy via the same e-mail address. In addition to ILTT’S world famous brands Captain Morgan, Smirnoff Vodka and Johnnie Walker Scotch, SHTA thanks Grant Thornton, Telem Group, Amsterdam, as well as the St. Maarten Tourism Bureau and the Office de Tourisme de St Martin for making the 2024 St. Maarten Event Calendar possible.
