The mayors and those in the public office who went to the National Meeting of Municipalities, on March 18th and 19th, in Brasília-DF, were able to learn about the Mapas Culturais project during one of the sessions at the event. The initiative was mentioned by the deputy secretary for Culture from the city of São Paulo, Alfredo Manevy, who spoke of “Paths and Possibilities for the Development of Municipal Culture Plans” together with the secretary for Cultural Policy of the Ministry of Culture, Américo Córdula.
Manevy – who represented the São Paulo City Government secretary for Culture, Juca Ferreira – spoke to the mayors about the partnership between the São Paulo Municipal Department of Culture and Instituto TIM, and explained that the tool is creating a cultural map of the city to be used as an instrument of cultural policy. He noted that the aim is not only to map cultural infrastructure, but also to map what he called “non-buildings” – cultural processes and entities that work with the community, youth groups, hip hop groups, festivals organized in neighborhoods etc.
“It’s a cultural flow that is not a physical building, but it’s culture.” stated Manevy. “We know about the importance of these groups, individuals and artists in their communities. It’s vital that we identify not only their needs, but also the potential of the communities and neighborhoods, and activate that potential by means of cultural centers, scholarships and competitions,” he added.
During the session, the deputy secretary commented that the platform has a range of uses: from the citizen’s point of view, it will be used as a tool for understanding and training on where the cultural assets and agents are to be found in the city; and from the public administration’s perspective, it will enable the maps to be part of municipal cultural planning. The participants observed on the big screen the preliminary version of the platform being used and could learn more about the project at the Mapas Culturais stand set up in the ExpoMunicípios fair, which was part of the event.
Manevy spoke to the mayors after the session by Américo Córdula, who explained the need for Municipal Authorities to create a Culture Plan, how this can be done and how the National Culture System works. The secretary of Cultural Policy at the Ministry of Culture also demonstrated the National System for Cultural Information and Indicators (SNIIC), with which Mapas Culturais project is aligned. “We already have 130,000 cultural projects recorded, 70,000 cultural producers registered and we have the website,” said Córdula.
According to the Brazilian Association of Municipalities, which organized the National Meeting of Municipalities, 1,500 people visited the event during its two days of activities.
