The team of the São Paulo Municipal Department of Culture is being trained to use the Mapas Culturais platform, a cultural management and collaborative mapping tool which is being adopted by the city government of São Paulo with support from Instituto TIM. In May, the VAI Program (Cultural Initiatives Incentive Program) staff will undergo training to clear-up any doubts and to get to understand how the platform works, to later on register the events of the projects financed by VAI in the tool. The teams of the São Paulo Cultural Center (CCSP) and of the Youth Cultural Center (CCJ) will also get to know the platform in May.
In the training, VAI, CCSP and CCJ communication managers are informed about the platform and how the events and cultural spots are registered – the information is made available for consultation and for public use. Among the first applications of the platform, the Mapas Culturais database is being used to feed the new Virada Cultural website, an event that will take place between May 17th and 18th, in São Paulo. “Mapas Culturais works like a social network. The user registers in the platform, inserts the event or cultural space, browses and can learn more about other cultural spots,” explains one of the project’s coordinators, Miguel Salvatore.
The first training phase for the use of the platform took place in the communication advisory services of the São Paulo Municipal Department of Culture, which is responsible for the editorial of the Em Cartaz magazine. The training to learn about the platform and insert all the cultural equipment (with the location information) of the city lasted 3 hours. “The communication advisory services really liked the platform. The results were beyond the expectations,” states Miguel. After the information about the cultural equipment, the advisors will add the main cultural events of São Paulo to the tool.
The participation of the cultural equipment managers in the second training phase also helps to improve the interface and the functions of the Mapas Culturais platform. “They have contributed a lot with ideas and that is great. They will make use of the platform and that’s why their participation is important,” he says.
The Mapas Culturais platform is in line with the goals of the National Culture Plan and the National System for Cultural Information and Indicators (SNIIC).
