Mapping Brazil - Classical Music: Media & Partnerships

Media
The media is important to the classical music industry in Brazil, even if the audience for this genre is very small. However, the few spaces that divulge classical music continue to have a loyal audience. TV Cultura, based in São Paulo, is the only free-to-air television channel to broadcast classical music. Radio Cultura, while facing upheavals because of budget constraints, and Radio MEC, in Rio de Janeiro, are the only radio stations with exclusively classical programming.

In 2015, the only music magazine that continues to come out on a monthly basis with national circulation is Revista Concerto. Not only does it list the vast majority of the classical music concerts on in the main cities in the country, it also presents discussions and debates about the music scene, making it assuredly the most important publication in the sector today. The VivaMúsica agenda used to be brought out in printed format, but since early 2015 it has only been published online. In 2014, the VivaMúsica yearbook ceased to be published.

Partnerships
In 2008, Brazilian and Dutch cultural institutions started to discuss ways in which they could work collaboratively together. One major project for the development of classical music, especially in terms of music education, was promoted by Dutch Culture together with the Netherlands Embassy in Brazil and the Consulate General of The Netherlands in São Paulo. Since a delegation of Dutch cultural institutions visited São Paulo in 2009, initiating the first contact between music institutions from the two countries, some important exchange projects have been run. In 2011, through a partnership agreement between Santa Marcelina Cultura (the organisation responsible for running the São Paulo government’s two music education programmes) and the Conservatorium van Amsterdam, with the support of the Consulate General of The Netherlands, an exchange programme was started for professionals, teachers and students from the two institutions. Thanks to this partnership, in the last two years four students from the São Paulo State Music School have joined the bachelor’s and master’s degree courses at the Conservatorium van Amsterdam, while in August 2014 the São Paulo State Youth Orchestra performed at the Muziekgebouw concert hall in Amsterdam as part of the Grachtenfestival. Meanwhile, to coincide with the visit to Brazil of Jet Bussemaker, Minister of Education, Culture and Science, during the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra’s Brazilian tour in 2013, Dutch Culture organised some visits for the Dutch delegation to one of the Guri Santa Marcelina youth music centres and to find out more about the work of the São Paulo State Music School. The delegation included the director of Conservatorium van Amsterdam, Janneke Van der Wijk, and the director of the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Jan Raes. Thanks to these visits, and in recognition of its experience in managing music education and social inclusion programmes, Santa Marcelina Cultura has been requested to provide support for the development of Dutch public policies for the inclusion of music in the curriculum of state schools in Amsterdam. Other music projects are in the pipeline and more concrete actions are awaited to promote closer cultural ties between Brazil and the Netherlands.

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