From 2022 to 2027, the Brazilian cultural sector can gain more dynamism with the application of the Paulo Gustavo and Aldir Blanc laws 2. This is because the laws developed by cultural agents from all over the country to mitigate the effects of the pandemic in the area intend to inject about R$ 20 billion into the segment in the next 5 years.

“OUR SECTOR WOULD BE THE FIRST TO LEAVE AND THE LAST TO RETURN [FROM QUARANTINE]. WE CAME BACK, BUT WE CAME BACK VERY LAME THE CULTURAL MOVEMENTS DID NOT STOP [IN THE PANDEMIC], BUT THEY ARE EXPERIENCING GREAT DIFFICULTIES” – CRISTINA ASSUNÇÃO, MEMBER OF THE SLAM COLLECTIVES OF GUILHERMINA AND DOLORES BOCA ABERTA, IN THE EASTERN ZONE OF SÃO PAULO, AND OF THE NATIONAL ARTICULATION OF CULTURAL EMERGENCY.

The proposals were approved in March with a large majority in Congress but were vetoed the following month by the current occupant of the Presidency of the Republic, Jair Bolsonaro (PL). This Tuesday (14/6), the analysis that could overturn the vetoes would be made in a unified session between the Senate and the Chamber of Deputies. However, due to the risk of lack of quorum, the hearing was postponed to July 5th.

The Paulo Gustavo Law (PLP 73/2021) will ensure the contribution, even this year 2022, of about R$ 3.8 billion to help more than 6.5 million cultural agents who suffered from the pandemic. The sector accounts for 4% of the wealth produced in the country. The resource from the National Culture Fund should contribute to the recovery of the economy in states and municipalities. Only the State of São Paulo should receive and transfer 727 million to artists and professionals in the area.

The Aldir Blanc Law 2 (PL 1518/2021) creates the new National Policy for the Promotion of Permanent Culture, with a forecast of approximately R$ 3.2 billion annually for the sector and the economy of Brazilian culture by 2027 – about 566 million annually just for the State of São Paulo.

In a letter sent to Parliamentarians, artists such as Alceu Valença, Caetano Veloso, Chico Buarque, Fernanda Montenegro, Gilberto Gil, Leci Brandão, Lia de Itamaracá, among others, defend the financing of culture as a bet on the country’s future.

“We do not ask for these Laws for our benefit, but for those who will come after us. It is a bet on the future of Brazilian culture, which will now have a financing model capable of implementing what is written in our Federal Constitution”, reads an excerpt from the letter.

For Cristina, the overthrow of vetoes is important to guarantee the promotion of such an important sector and, in the periphery, it can benefit theater groups, literature, music, dance, community libraries, and other languages.

“It is important for us to be able to expand even more, especially for those collectives that did not reach [the first edition of Aldir Blanc, in 2020]. And that they can now, by permanence, the continuation of the culture here in the periphery, right”, he adds.