(Oranjestad)—The Rancho Foundation celebrates their 13th anniversary today and they have announced the number of activities that will be taking place starting from today till April 27th. Starting tomorrow up until April 27th, there will be symposiums, outside exhibits and other discussions concerning the celebrations for King’s Day on April 27th. Furthermore, they have also announced their plans for the 200th anniversary of Aruba’s capital, Oranjestad, which will take place next year.
Clifford Rosa, president of the foundation, states that the activities relate to art and culture, which are good for the development of the Rancho area of the capital: “for us, Rancho is the heart of Oranjestad and thus we have been pushing for the need to have plans in place for a renewal of the urban area. Despite many regulations to which we need to adhere, we still encourage for the protection for the area of Rancho. However, we are also aware that is it important to discuss the protection of the entire region of the capital city, because this involves the conservation of heritage and further development of our culture.”
In order to realize the activities they have planned for the coming week, Rosa assured that they have received help from Funds for Culture Participation, which has funded their ideas for the celebration of Oranjestad’s 200th anniversary.
Chrislene Arends, who functions as the leader of the project “200 years Oranjestad”, assured that they are prepared a symposium today at the Renaissance Convention Center at 9am. During this symposium, there will be different speaker present who will be sharing their knowledge about the preservation of Oranjestad’s heritage, along with invitees from ONG, OG and citizens of Aruba, with the goal to create opportunities for further development of the neighborhood of Rancho and overall city of Oranjestad.
They will be discussing food security, sustainable development, waste management, tourism and Eco System, preservation of heritage, among other topics. Then, they will be organizing a work shop of five groups for those who are interested in participating.
“This symposium is the first phase in terms of the big celebration of 200 years of Oranjestad. We have reunited to talk about the past, present and future developments of Oranjestad,” Arends stated.
She also informed that the foundation will hold a live stream of the symposium, available on the Facebook page “Oranjestad 200”. In the live stream, they will be discussing the entire process of the project and also announce what they have set for the second phase of the project.
The mission for the project “200 years Oranjestad” is to reunite those in the community with extensive knowledge of the city, whether it be family history, pictures and other relevant information they can use for the program of the celebration.
