Mapping Brazil - Performing Arts: São Paulo and Belo Horizonte

Cultural scene in São Paulo

Ruy Filho: “This city is extremely plural and ideologically engaged in its artistic output, but divided by the need to be funded by the market or by government incentives; with many cultural venues with a variety of objectives but not enough to meet growing demand; with good quality university courses to qualify new actors (especially University of São Paulo, UNICAMP, PUC); with a perceptible waning of interest on the part of the traditional press in non-commercial shows.

Long-term work prospects are tricky, in that productions are increasingly dependent on government subsidies, whose volume has not kept up with the growth in demand for new productions and new companies, not to mention the pressure on independent cultural venues exerted by property developers. Theatre and its local ramifications in São Paulo has been politicised for years, and continues to be a powerful instrument for reflecting about society and ideological behaviour.

However, this process has entrenched theatre in these values and taken on the public funding discourse, distancing less ideological researches more interested in art as a concept. There is also a movement towards clarifying these points, and the conflict between divergent world views is becoming clearer, which is also proving productive. This process has accelerated the emergence of some of the city’s most interesting theatre companies, especially those that work as collectives which write their own work collectively. There is also a clear return to staging the work of playwrights, bringing to light some original voices in recent years in what could come to be a new wave of plays and productions in São Paulo.”

Ruy Filho is the editor of online arts magazine, Antro Positivo, created in 2012. He is a theatre critic, writes essays on the theatre, and is a cultural policy commentator. The goals of Antro Positivo are to establish dialogue between the values and characteristics in contemporary society and artistic practice, especially theatre, dance and performance, connecting internationally renowned performers with beginners and thinkers from different areas, such as philosophy, sociology, political science, humanities, cognitive science, legal theory, etc.

Antônio Martinelli: “This is an incredibly theatre-oriented city, full of creativity and debate, but there is a shortage of venues and spaces for its groups and companies, which are also in a constant battle to remain in existence, almost always supported by or dependent on research grants or subsidies.

I would like to list a few very effective, ongoing projects, some of which have proved more long-lasting than others. To a large extent, SESC São Paulo is responsible for galvanising the biggest movement of artistic languages. There is also Centro Cultural Banco do Brasil (CCBB) and Itaú Cultural, which include theatre in their regular line-up of events. Some other important venues are Centro Cultural São Paulo (CCSP), Oficina Cultural Oswald de Andrade and Instituto Capobianco, whose programming is very bold, including seasons by important groups and companies, workshops and debates.

Interestingly, both CCSP (run by the local authority) and Oswald (run by the state) were once very active, but dwindled gradually because a shortage of funding and also, I would argue, because of a lack of interest, motivation and articulation. The recent work at both institutions has mostly been thanks to the hard work of their managers and teams, who, even in the face of limited budgets, are putting together a vibrant, thought-provoking line-up of events which have attracted crowds and the interest of the artistic community in general, keen to work there (which is further helped when these groups or companies have already received some kind of funding, such as the municipal government’s theatre fund (Fomento ao Teatro), the Zé Renato award, the state government’s ProaC grants, or other incentives, grants or sponsorship).”

Antonio Martinelli is assistant manager of SESC Ipiranga, part of SESC São Paulo, created in 1946. The mission of SESC São Paulo is to promote the development and quality of life of workers from the retail, services and tourism sectors and of society at large. We work with education in its broadest sense through culture. We offer our clientele access to, contact with and experience of different sociocultural activities, such as sports, health and wellbeing, and every form of the arts, promoting access to experiences, information and actions of quality.

Kil Abreu: “The cultural activity is intense with a large volume of productions, but while audiences sometimes respond, this is not always the case. Probably the biggest hurdle today is that the number of venues has not kept up with the volume of output. The prospects for work in the long term would be better if cultural productions had the support they needed to exist and there were educational programmes and ways of promoting access to culture, especially on the part of the population that does not make use of the symbolic assets our capital generates. There is good public institutional support in terms of funding (compared with other cities in Brazil and even other countries) and more productions are put on throughout the city than in other regions of Brazil (mainly thanks to the municipal government’s Fomento ao Teatro theatre grants). There is a large output marked by aesthetic diversity.”

Kil Abreu is a theatre curator with Centro Cultural São Paulo, created in 1982. Its targets are to promote access to and document the work of cultural organisations in the city of São Paulo.

Celso Curi: “São Paulo is unquestionably the city with the most cultural activity in the country, although its long-term prospects are not so sure, but this is the same anywhere in the world. I recently found out about some significant budget cuts to the arts funding supplied by European governments, especially for theatre. The quality of what is achieved in the realm of the theatre far outstrips the scant funding received from the authorities. The line-up of events put on by SESC and Teatro Alfa, plus some smaller but no less important venues like Oficina Cultural Oswald de Andrade, have an important international offer. It would be good to know what goes on in the Netherlands, too. Mainly the exchange and educational programmes and residencies.”

Celso Curi is editor of OFF – Guia de Teatro (São Paulo/Rio de Janeiro), a theatre guide which has existed since the mid 1990s. He has been artistic director of Oficina Cultural Oswald de Andrade since 2013. Its goals are to promote the performing arts in Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo, and to promote training for performers in every area of the arts and culture.

Cultural scene in Belo Horizonte

Grace Passô: “The cultural scene is active, with an irregular supply of events throughout the years (in other words, sometimes there is a lot going on, while at other times there is nothing). Inland parts of the state safeguard the treasure of folk art, which constantly inspires the creation of new dance, drama and music groups, some of which are known nationally. The main festivals that take place in Belo Horizonte are: Festival Internacional de Teatro de Belo Horizonte, Fórum Internacional de Dança (International Dance Forum), Festival de Arte Negra (Festival of Black Art) and Festival de Teatro de Bonecos (Puppet Theatre Festival). One of the most important events on the city’s events calendar is the summer arts festival, Verão Arte Contemporânea. The Campaign for the Popularisation of Theatre and Dance is an initiative that has been going for many years and is covered widely in the media.”

Grace Passô is an actor, director and playwright. She was formerly a member of Espanca! theatre group, founded in 2004, with which she worked for eight years. She directed Amores Surdos, Por Elise and Os Ancestrais with Grupo Teatro Invertido, and Os Bem-intencionados with LUME. More recently, she directed Contrações with Grupo 3 de Teatro. In 2015 she performed in Krum, directed by Marcio Abreu.

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