Federalism and municipal cultural promotion policy in Brazil

Abstract

Historically, the Brazilian federal structure has granted municipalities with significant autonomy and responsibilities. This provides challenges given the lack of resources and institutional capacities that characterize local governments. However, given the dismantlement of cultural policy at the federal level and successive attacks on cultural production itself, local governments have none the less emerged as important pillars to guarantee the implementation of cultural policy. How have public policies of cultural promotion evolved in this context? This article uses data on the municipal management of culture available in the "Pesquisas de Informações Básicas Municipais” (Basic Municipal Information Research, MUNIC/IBGE) to analyze 1) the institutional context of public cultural management at the municipal level to identify the factors behind the implementation of cultural policy and 2) the types of cultural promotion policies implemented, with special attention to the cultural area and methods of public administration utilized. The identification of tendencies, models, and hypotheses about cultural promotion at the municipal level provide better understanding of these policies at a moment when local governments represent important opportunities for democratization.