Mapping Brazil - Creative Industries: Events

Creative-economy events
Creative economy became a very popular theme as of 2008 with more and more in-depth discussions related to this sector being held, and several forums for debate emerging mainly to discuss and propose government or public sector policies. Initiatives such as Crio and the International Creativity Forum, Sierra Creative (organized by the Serrano Creative-Economy Institute – ISEC) or the São Paulo Commerce Federation's Creative Economy Forum. However, Brazil’s creative economy is still largely anchored to entertainment events.

In Rio de Janeiro, Rio Music Conference hosts thousands of electronic music lovers during the city's carnival program and holds events in another four cities, thus connecting Brazil to the international electronic scene, in a context in which this musical genre has won a growing audience in Brazil. The event also holds discussions on the music business in Brazil. Latin America's biggest film festival, Festival do Rio, provides access to cinema for thousands of people in Rio de Janeiro and drives outreach for creative industries such as media, games and entertainment. Entertainment events in São Paulo are part of more regular programs all over the city, such as the Indie Film Festival, Cultural All-Nighter, Monsters of Rock or the Loollapalooza pop-rock festival. São Paulo is known for its large number of events covering a wide range of entertainment. The city's leading venues include those of the SESC-SP network, which has very busy and popular program. The long list of creative-industry related events in both cities includes the São Paulo Biennial art exhibition and the ArtRio fair. There are Fashion Week events in Rio and São Paulo, and Design do Rio and Made in São Paulo. Arq.Futuro is held in several locations in Brazil and poses architecture as central to the issue of development. An extensive list of sector events is covered by the cultural exchange and mapping site Cultural Mapping.

Although there are entertainment venues and events covering a major part of the creative economy agenda, Brazil is also short of events that aim to inspire creativity rather than presentations or discussion forums, although both are essential. There is a great opportunity to create experientially inspiring events in Brazil. Path is a festival held in São Paulo that combines innovation with contemporary culture in order to connect people and anticipate future trends. The difference is that contents and their multiple formats are shown in way that enables visitors to gain lived experience of the creative economy. On the same lines, but focusing on digital content, São Paulo's Campus Party has consolidated as Brazil's top biggest digital creative-industry event with more than 8,000 campers viewing content and experimenting different proposals, so the event is a key feature on the Brazilian scenario.

Success story: Carnival as creative industry
Brazil is recognized as the home country of Carnival. This cultural event drives Brazil's economy and is a major economic sector in itself, with different social dimensions and manifestations in different cities and regions and a highly profitable business for tourism. The Ministry of Tourism estimates that the country's most popular festive event attracts 6.8 million tourists and adds over R$ 6.6 billion (€2 billion) to the economy, boosting the services sector in particular and accounting for 3% of the travel and tourism industry's total annual turnover in Brazil. Highlighted among the cities involved are Rio de Janeiro (Rio de Janeiro) and Salvador (Bahia). Carnival week generates income for the tourism, entertainment, audiovisual, textiles and clothing, printing and publishing, beverages and musical instrument sectors. Yet, the event has yearlong impact since the industry mobilizes an extensive supply chain that is active beyond Carnival week itself.

Managed by the municipality of Rio de Janeiro's Tourism department and LIESA, Rio's carnival is internationally acclaimed as a spectacle. Its economic scale shows striking numbers: carnival employs 250,000 people in Rio de Janeiro, according to state government numbers. The Sambadrome parade alone provides work for around 1,100 people in restaurants and bars catering for an audience of some 72,500 plus 80 workers collecting and separating garbage on both of the event's nights, said the report. In all, Rio's carnival mobilizes 5 million people, of whom 1 million are tourists, and generates income of approximately R$1 billion (€303 million) in the state alone.

Organized by SALTUR and characterized by their large scale, popularity and commercial appeal, Bahia's carnival events picked up momentum in the 1980s and became powerful cultural catalysts while boosting employment, income and innovation. Groups of dancing revellers and sound wagons set the tone for formats seen in this entertainment event. In addition to its high-level cultural impact, carnival takes on a striking economic scale in terms of business for recording studios, advertising companies, events, brand licensing and tourist inflow that leads to employment for some 200,00 people in Bahia according to numbers from the State of Bahia Department of Tourism.

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