Since the end of 2015, the platform Cultura Viva (Living Culture) is available to the audience and gathers information on agents, collectives and institutions from all the states of Brazil registered in the Living Culture Program. There are more than 2,000 spots mapped in all the states of Brazil. The platform is the digital interface of the National Registry of Spots and Great Spots of Culture and it is one of the four deployments of the open source software Mapas Culturais in the Ministry of Culture (MinC), created as part of the partnership between Instituto TIM and MinC.
The network Cultura Viva started in 2004 and was established as a state policy with the Living Culture Law (Lei nº 13.018/2014). To be part of the network it is required to register in the platform as a spot or great spot of culture. It is understood as spots of culture the agents and organizations with cultural purpose which perform activities in their communities. On the other hand, the great spots of culture, in addition to work as cultural agents, have a larger scope than the spots: they offer training and other activities that promote the link between cultural spots and generally cover wider areas.
In the platform, the user finds information on cultural agents and organizations, such as address, field of work and cultural schedule. The spots and great spots of culture can manage their data themselves. In the future, the platform shall receive new functionalities, such as the mapping of training initiatives and a collaborative network that will allow the agents to disclose their actions and exchange information with other agents, like a social network of spots and great spots of culture.
To MinC, the platform Cultura Viva is a way to follow up public policies, in addition to promote integration among the spots of culture as a network. It is also important to see where the national politics for culture is happening, who are the agents of this politics and what is its reach.
Any person can register for free as a spot or great spot of culture, provided that it meets some criteria: be a non-profit legal entity or cultural collective, have at least one year of experience with cultural activities, send at least two letters of support from other cultural spots and accept the binding agreement. The criteria are available in details on the website. The registration is assessed by a commission before approval, which does not assure the promotion of cultural actions. In order to request it, the agent must wait the opening of public notices from MinC, from the state or from the city.
The advantage of the registration is the acknowledgment as spot or great spot of culture, which can make the acquisition of support along with municipal and state bodies or private initiatives easier. According to MinC, being a spot or great spot of culture contributes to the acknowledgment inside the own community, in addition to create opportunities – some public notices specifically covers spots of culture.
