Mapping Brazil - Cultural Participation: Public Policies

Public Policies on Access at the Federal Level
Among public policies guided by the PNC and the SNC, the program that is the most closely related to the idea of promoting access is “Cultura Viva” (Living Culture) Created in 2004 through an ordinance and turned into Law (number 13.018) in 2015, Cultura Viva is a nation-wide State policy that is implemented by the Secretariat of Citizenship and Cultural Diversity, under the Ministry of Culture. Some of its main objectives are: to increase Brazilians’ access to the country’s cultural assets; to expand culture, education and citizenship, providing opportunities for the excluded populations to develop their artistic vocations and to disseminate them in all of their expressions . The basic assumption is the fact that it is not necessary to “take” culture to such social strata, since they already produce their own culture and only need to be acknowledged as doing so. The program aims to encourage cultural manifestations that are already taking place throughout the country, leveraging pent-up social and cultural energies with the purpose of creating new values of cooperation and solidarity by making culture.

The main strategy used is the deployment of Pontos de Cultura (Culture Stations): physical and technical infrastructure made available through the Fundo Nacional de Cultura - FNC (National Fund for Culture) by the program to groups that are already carrying out cultural initiatives in their respective regions, providing communities with cultural spaces, which become centers for cultural creation and production. The Stations are not random activities and are managed by the actors involved. The objective is to provide adequate environments both for the artists and the audiences, so as to enable enjoyment and the budding of creative skills. This leads to an increase in the number of cultural facilities available, a reduction in the cost of production (because artists don’t need to go to market for these services), and the expansion of low-income population access to the production of cultural assets and services.

These are the reasons why the Cultura Viva strategy has become crucial to providing capillarity to ministerial action. Although different ways to monitor the program have been set out, it presents problems that hinder its assessment as public policy . Nonetheless, the power and the importance of the program are undeniable and it is currently the main policy for the promotion of diversity and access to culture.

On another instance, and keeping up with the trend of other social policies - such as the Bolsa-Família (Family Grant) program, for example, the federal government created a program through the Ministry of Culture called “Vale-Cultura” (Culture Voucher), which was enacted in 2012 (Law number 12.761) during minister Marta Suplicy’s administration .

Vale-Cultura is a benefit that was created mainly for Brazilian employees earning up to 5 minimum wages. Companies offer the benefit to employees registered as per the Consolidation of Labor Laws (CLT - Consolidação das Leis Trabalhistas), mainly those on a low income. Since the Program is not compulsory, before starting, companies must first apply, then employees can receive a monthly pre-paid card with R$50 credit, which can accumulate, does not expire and can be used nation-wide. The employer can deduct up to ten percent of the benefit (the equivalent of R$5) from employees’ wages, in proportion to the number of minimum wages earned. Companies that join the Program are entitled to labor and social tax exemptions based on the amount granted and up to one per cent income tax deduction.

The objective of the program is to expand access to culture among low-income employees. Vale-Cultura makes it possible for them to go to the cinema, museums, the theatre, shows, and to buy and rent out CDs, DVDs, books, magazines and newspapers. Credit can also be used to pay for art courses, buy musical instruments, or even attend more expensive cultural events. It cannot be used to pay for cable TV, although the possibility has been mentioned. By doing this, the program ends up expanding cultural goods. Roughly 18 million Brazilians can benefit from Vale-Cultura, which accounts for an increase of R$11.3 billion in the Cultural production chain .

The Vale-Cultura program reinforces cultural policy guidelines aimed at expanding access. Furthermore, the program is geared towards stimulating the demand for cultural goods and services, and therefore complements other policies aimed at promoting the stages of creation and production of such goods.

The “Mais Cultura” (More Culture) program should also be pointed out; it was created in 2007 and aims to promote access to culture in public schools and universities. Calls for submissions are made for projects developed by cities and states, or individuals or non-profit public or private companies with activities of a cultural nature and proven cultural operations for at least two years. Selected projects must carry out activities in at least one of the following three areas: Culture and Citizenship, Culture and Cities, and Culture and Economics .

These are the main policies aimed at increasing access at the federal level. Obviously, there are other policies at the state and city levels throughout the country, which reflect federal policy guidelines, as set out in the SNC. Since it would be impossible to comment on all the access promotion initiatives taking place in all states of Brazil, we will limit the comments to those in two states: São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro, both compliant with the SNC and culturally relevant in the national scenario. It is also worth mentioning a few organizations and institutions that have been doing exemplary work on the matter of access in these states, as well as in their respective capitals.

Continue reading Mapping Brazil - Cultural Participation: Access to Culture in São Paulo