From marketing to cultural development by Marcos Barreto Corrêa

From Marketing

to Cultural Development

Marcos Barreto CorrĂŞa

From Marketing to Cultural Development The Relationship between Company and Culture - Reflections and Experiences

Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, Brazil 2004

Rodrigo Dai graphic project

Guilherme Seara and Hugo Werner editing

Marília Salgado and Marlene Hostalácio legal assistance

Alessandra Drummond still photo, cover

Miguel Aun

“There is nothing in the intellect, unless it is first in the senses”

iconographic research

Luís Augusto de Lima

Aris totle

printing and finishing

Rona Editora English version

Douglas Lee Arnold

From marketing to cultural development; relationship between company and culture; reflections and experiences - Belo Horizonte: 2004. 170 p. ISBN 85-904223-1-3 1. Cultural Marketing. 2. Culture. 3. Cultural Policy. 4. Cultural Development. 5. Incentive Laws. 6. Sponsorship. 7. Corporate Citizenship. 8. Corporate Social Responsibility. I. Marcos Barreto Corrêa. II. Title. CDU 316.7:658.8 (815.1) For Dani and Gab Contact: culturaldevelopment@hotmail.com

Acknowledgments

To Telemig Celular, in the person of its president, João Cox, and its Marketing and Relationship Director, Erik Fernandes; To Natália Lopes and Caroline Reis from Telemig Celular’s Cultural Development Department and to the professionals who contributed to the consolidation of the company’s actions in the cultural development area. To the team that has helped produce this book: to designers Guilherme Seara and Hugo Werner; to iconographic researcher Luís Augusto de Lima; to editors Marília Salgado and Marlene Hostalácio; to those responsible for production of the CDRom videos, Eder Santos, Marcellus Giovani, André Carrera, Rodolfo Buaiz and Armando Mendzz; to photographer Rodrigo Dai; to auditors Marco Túlio and Paulo Fernando; and to attorney Alessandra Drummond; To Gabriel Villela and Israel do Vale for adding theirs thoughts to mine;

To Daniele Hostalácio, Regina Bertola, Eleonora Santa Rosa, José Márcio Barros, Armênio Correia and to Márcio Barreto for their comments on the first versions of the text; To persons who, directly or indirectly, contributed to the realization of this project: Lúcio Oliveira, Valéria Martins, Maurílio Kuru, Maria Alice Martins, Mariana Martins, Elisane Gressi, Cecília Bhering, Rivadávia Drummond and Luis Eguinoa; To Ivanée Bertola, one of those who most encouraged me to write this book; To the hundreds of artists, producers and technicians who made the experiences and, consequently, the thoughts herein presented richer.

A Minas-style traveling troupe Gabriel Villela

From Minas Gerais Gabriel Villela is a theatrical director. He works with the top names in the Brazilian and foreign cultural scene in theater shows, music, opera and dance. He has received numerous awards for his work. He was Artistic Director of the Teatro Glória (RJ, 1997 to 1999) and TBC (SP, 2000 to 2002).

When arriving at the last pages of this book, the reader will realize that in this diversified menu about Cultural Incentive Laws, artistic support, cultural marketing, sponsorship and so many ingredients that involve the complex relationship among State, company, the artist and the public, our “maitre d’” from Minas, Marcos Barreto intentionally moves the main course to the place of the dessert. Sweet, indeed, is his low-profile way of writing with personal exemption about his knowledge on the topic that justifies the title of this book. My job, however, is to write a little about the offspring of his partnership with Telemig Celular. The name of the puppy? Telemig Celular Cultural Circuit. It is impossible to speak of the author and the Circuit without using superlatives, and that is what I will do. Marcos Barreto makes a correct and complete inventory of this young and original artistic caravan using simples, direct language. For four years, the caravan has wandered through roads and towns throughout the length and breadth of the

vast State of Minas Gerais. The caravan has been supplied with the best and most expressive theater artists, musicians, dancers, singers, circus artists and their variants, technicians, producers and specialized pedagogues; it has promoted truly transforming spectacles to the soul and social fiber of the places it has visited. I am an eyewitness to this phenomenal meld. It reunites and mobilizes thousands of people armed with desires, thirsty for knowledge and artistic technique, in an ideological round robin, exercises of civic spirit and cultural dialogue. The result is the awakening of several social segments of the small and medium-size towns in Minas Gerais, inflating them with a good portion of quixotic lyricism, in addition, of course, to fraternizing the company’s brand with the myths that make up the psyche of the Minas soul. In a short time, the combination of the names Marcos/Telemig Celular/Art Workshops has turned on the lights that most certainly will guide the first steps of a promising artistic effervescence. My faith in the people of Minas and my crystal ball prophetize, “Every artist migrates to where the gold is. Belo Horizonte, prepare yourself! Beware! It is possible that a young, inspired person, armed with wisdom and a dream, leave his province and head to the capital, bringing in his suitcase projects of a newer, luckier era than ours, overflowing with ethics, artistic virtue and, if he be grateful, preach the wise words of the Bard, Shakespeare: “Good my lord, will you see the players well bestowed? Do you hear, let them be well used; for they are the abstract and brief chronicles of the time” (Hamlet)

Corporate cultural policy: a new mentality Israel do Vale

Israel do Vale is a journalist, cultural producer and curator in the musical milieu. He is director of the Instituto Pensarte and of the electronic magazine “Cultura e Mercado”. He was co-editor of the “Ilustrada” section of newspaper “Folha de São Paulo” and has written for publications such as “O Estado de S. Paulo”, “Veja São Paulo”, “Showbizz”, “Interview” and Rede CNT. In Minas Gerais, he was editor of the “Magazine” section of the “O Tempo” newspaper and of “Palavra” magazine.

The efforts made in comprehending and improving the dynamics of the cultural production chain in Brazil are remarkable. This is a result of the full-blown maturing of the segment by the school of hard knocks, especially after the dismantling of the sector during the Collor era. Cultural activities were reborn, driven by the “loss of innocence” after the depletion of the paternalistic relation between culture and government, cultural agents and artists was perceived. A movement was promoted (at first, a defensive, disorderly withdrawal) that articulated the beginnings of consolidation, which was to become reality. Those promoters found strong allies in private enterprise (in the beginning, albeit circumspect and circumstantial). Today, they increasingly are partners in the search for another management model. No illusion exists that it is possible to overcome the process of begging for

support from governmental bureaucrats. However, the fact is that things are changing. The introduction of mechanisms of fiscal relinquishment (quitclaim) into the cultural “assembly line” allows the involvement of another sphere of society, private enterprise, into the center of decision making, rather than leaving it simply to public domain – for better or for worse. Re-directing part of taxes due by companies toward artistic events and products has opened up a new front for financing cultural

The financial model of the Cultural Incentive Laws has undeniably generated distortions. However, to preach their end, as is usually professed, inside and outside of government, would be, as they say, “killing the patient, instead of fighting the disease”. It should not be the purpose of this text to defend the permanence of incentive laws or glorify them, be they federal, state or muncipal. However, it is necessary to recognize that, without them, a good portion of the professionalism and consolidation in certain areas of the cultural industry would not have been feasible.

production. However, this has not broken the old habits of privileged access to resources and concentration of funds of the major economic centers, as most critics would decry. The system has changed; it has expanded the address book of the bureaucrats, who have incorporated new actors into the process. However, the logic of begging continues in vogue. The barrage of possible criticism is extensive when the topic of discussion is what has been termed “the privatization of public cultural policy”. However, the polarized vision among those who defend a strong hand of the State or market regulation (with the aid of fiscal incentives, i.e., the use of public money) does not resolve the complexity of the issue.

This book proves that point. In the following pages, Marcos Barreto Corrêa shows how the process of trial and error in the sinuous road of the laws has given shape to an admirable critical mass – and, from that, to new needs and commitments. The author has experienced everything he has written about. And from that standpoint, more important than mere testimony, he has made a vital contribution to the thinking and revision of the posturing in the area. The CD-ROM that comes with this book tells a story of the greatness and the power of intercession generated by Telemig Celular’s action program, examples of successful amplification of the reach of cultural products and forming of audiences.

The initiatives are revealing. They illustrate the growing commitment between “enlightened businessmen” and their customers. This has been made manifest by a change in habit and status of the relationship. Marcos Barreto visualizes and conceives this as a “corporate cultural policy”. Pretentious? No. Telemig Celular’s cultural policy shows how it is possible to contribute to changing the environment with a minimum of vision and knowledge of the terrain it is walking on. Companies like Telemig Celular increasingly act within a logic that has been termed social responsibility. This migrates to the cultural area in two ways: by intertwining actions that have social impact (and this is what most calls our attention in this case) with the elaboration of strategies aimed at transforming the cultural market. Who would imagine that, years ago, a company would dislocate its focus of action in the cultural area from those of its customers’ direct interests to those of society in general? Well, that reorientation is what Barreto describes here. In times where social reciprocity is a critical issue, this is a model to be studied in depth. Acting in harmony with community interests contributes to improving life quality. And he who lives well has better means

to consume. In summary, it is intelligent business policy, certainly more complex and high above immediate material interests – what Barreto defines as “cultural responsibility”. Another name for this is cultural commitment. The concept that money placed in culture is investment, not spending, is visibly expanding, even among politicians in the revenue area, i.e., those who control the money. It is increasingly apparent that the business community views money invested in culture as good business, not as charity. It is not just that culture is one of the largest industries in the world today. When we speak of culture as a business, we are talking about culture as a job generator, and jobs mean money circulating through the country’s economy, which means the possibility of improving social development indices increases. In the final analysis, it is one of the most effective ways to obtain in a practical way the hard-to-achieve goals of dignity and citizenship. At a moment in which terms like “cultural centrality” (in juxtaposition to the “accessory” nature it still has in public policy) and “tranversality of action” (among different spheres of public power) are common, it would not be too much to consider businessmen as allies or,

more than this, as potential accomplices â&#x20AC;&#x201C; not just to pay for the cocktails. Public policy only exists with money and planning. This requires effort to reform and do housekeeping on a continuous basis, as does the willingness to, if needs be, tear down walls and open up new gateways in those walls .

â&#x20AC;&#x153;The present cultural production environment promotes an effective encounter between spheres of fundamental importance to society in favor of the realization of cultural activities.â&#x20AC;?

Introduction

The role of companies as investors in culture was thoroughly discussed in 2003, the period this book was written. With the new Federal Government administration in office, including new Ministry of Culture officials, and following reforms of the Brazilian tax structure, new reflections arose about public cultural policy in practice, built around the Cultural Incentive Laws. On a federal level, the Rouanet Law, named after its author, was questioned as the sole instrument of public cultural financing. It was accused of generating distortions, such as, the concentration of undertakings and sponsors in certain regions, and of exclusions, such as sponsorsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; preference for certain project profiles in detriment of others. On a statewide level, the focus was on discussing the imminent possibility of the extinction of the State Cultural Incentive Laws brought by the Tax Reform. By proposing the suppression of fiscal

relinquishment (quitclaim) mechanisms based on the valued added tax (ICMS, the tax by which the State Cultural Incentive Laws are sustained), the Tax Reform brought into evidence inevitable debates about the relationship between companies and cultural activities and about the cultural financing model itself offered by the Incentive Laws. Perceived by many as a symbol of the relegation of national culture to the will of the market, these laws represented the insertion of private companies in the decision-making process about the cultural offerings made available to the population. Amidst the evaluations and proposals ventilated in this reflection period, the extinction of the Cultural Incentive Laws and their consequent interface among government, companies, the cultural area and society in the process of Brazilian cultural feasibility was considered as probable. In several forums dedicated to the theme promoted by communications media and through seminars and meetings held in many parts of the country, representatives of government and cultural environment expressed their opinions and positions. However, few of the companyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s cultural specialists took part. This book proposes to expose some viewpoints on the meeting of the forces that have conducted the national

cultural movement in the last few years. It will attempt to analyze it, especially from a company standpoint. This analysis is made without the least intention of exhausting the themes discussed. Rather, it is committed to offering the reader most of the elements that should be considered to arrive at a conclusion about the possible development in the present scenario. The ideas in this book have been traced during my exposure to this area, in which I have worked for the last 15 years. My thoughts have been generated from information gathered in seminars, courses, books, published materials and, mainly, direct contact with the brilliant ideas of artists, producers and thinkers in the area with which I have had the honor to work and to which I attribute a large part of the concepts presented in these pages. The central objective of this publication is to bring to the public the dilemmas, concepts and reflections that go with the execution of my work, especially in the last five years, as the person responsible for investments in cultural activities at Telemig Celular. It is one of the companies that most invests in culture in Minas Gerais and shares those investments with professionals in the cultural area. I bring my impressions along with some imprecision about the milieu I have had the opportunity to work in and carry

on my career as that company’s Cultural Development Department Manager. This experience has raised some little explored issues in the relationship between companies and culture. More than the role of financier of cultural activities, Telemig Celular’s main contribution to the sector has been the stimulus to the articulation and to the relationship of the forces that deal in it. It brings to its cultural policy an element intrinsic to the business itself, communication, whose main purpose is to bring people closer together at the end of the day. It is not by chance that the slogan adopted in merchadising used for the backdrop to cultural actions of the company says, “Telemig Celular: bringing people closer with art.” Although many of the issues discussed herein are about the trajectory of Telemig Celular, I opt to refer to companies generically throughout the book, because I understand that similar practices are also being experienced by other corporations. In spite of running the risk of generalizing, which tends to show all companies as if they were in a similar moment in their relationship with culture, which is far from the truth, I believe that the readers will know how to make due judgment and differentiations and arrive at their own conclusions. To structure this book, I make reference to the didactic model used in the course “Cultural Marketing” I taught in the Cultural

Development and Management Course in the cities chosen for the 2003 edition of the Telemig Celular Cultural Circuit. In this way, besides analyzing the relationship between company and culture, I reflect on the scenario in which corporations act today, understanding this relationship as an evolution of business strategies in constructing an image and of bringing target publics closer together. This book is not divided into formal chapters. It spells out “thematic reflections” that, in my opinion, are interrelated and may help to think about the theme proposed here. The book comes with a CD-ROM produced by Telemig Celular containing videos, photos and information about the many projects the company has associated its brand to in the last few years and which illustrate many of the concepts dealt with throughout the book. I think that in the same manner art brings people closer, the present backdrop of cultural production promotes an effective meeting of minds between fundamentally important spheres in society in favor of cultural actions. This is perhaps the greatest transformation that the Cultural Incentive Law have made possible. To unite apparently divergent interests around one common objective is something that becomes larger than the sum of its parts. It is a slow and difficult path, but a gratifying one, as in every great transformation, as in all developmental processes.

â&#x20AC;&#x153;Soon, the possibility of a company maintaining all of its quality parameters, while allowing its institutional and cultural efforts to follow abstract criteria, not committed to the modification of the scenarios it interacts with will no longer be acceptable.â&#x20AC;?

Why should a company invest in culture?

In order to answer this question, perhaps it is better, initially, to invert it: Why should culture receive investments? Although communication media increasingly deals with culture as a synonym for entertainment, and one appreciates cultural, artistic actions mainly for their value as a source of distraction and leisure, one needs to understand culture in its wider sense and true role. Culture is the element that guarantees everyone â&#x20AC;&#x201C; creators, artists and audiences â&#x20AC;&#x201C; the right to celebrate their identity, to manifest their sensitivity and emotion, developing, at the same time, a critical spirit, imagination and a sense of collectivity. This is a process of conscientization, socialization and social transformation. As such, every social transformation really begins inside each individual. In an increasingly fragmented, violent and undefined world, nothing could make greater sense. Watching a play, delving into the universe of a movie, taking part in a musical show, reading a book â&#x20AC;&#x201C; cultural experiences are

voyages in time and space. They are trips into the depths of the soul that recover memories and sensations, that evoke one’s own experiences and open up space for new ones. To live the potential of culture is equivalent to participating in an era, in history, in the lives of a people, of a country, of a specific moment in the world. It is celebrating human experience on earth individually or collectively. From this angle, culture becomes worthy of a company’s funds not only due to the merits of art and artistic events in favor of the sponsoring corporations. Examples of such merits are the allowance to use fiscal incentives, making the execution of alternative strategies viable, qualifying business communication or even being an instrument to demonstrate its Social Responsibility. These are precious, valued elements, especially at a moment in which competition among companies increases, the differentials between competing products and communication used by them diminish, business strategies require more results with less funds and shareholders not only demand greater return on invested capital, they also require that their investments be made in well-managed companies with a good image in the communities they act in.

to transform the world around it. That is exactly what a company should perceive when investing in culture. It has been some time since the return sought by sponsoring events was restricted to brand marketing in posters, announcements and other printed materials destined to promote them and create empathy with so-called “opinion makers”. It has also been awhile since correct investment in Cultural Marketing was doing so before the competition, in, for example, the play of the leading soap opera actor of the moment. Likewise, the logic that measures the success of corporate cultural actions only by the number of people filling auditorium seats has also seen its heyday. Soon, the possibility of a company maintaining all of its quality parameters, while allowing its institutional and cultural efforts to follow abstract, non-commital criteria with the modification of the scenarios it interacts with will no longer be acceptable.

When analyzing the actual role and potential of culture, what justifies business investment is its social aspect, its capacity

On the contrary, the moment is arriving in which corporate cultural actions will be more than just a reflex of the competence required and practiced in all areas of the company focused on the actual transformation of the stakeholders they are directed towards. Rather, this will be a reference point regarding the vision and commitments of the institution with its diverse publics and will demonstrate to everyone the posture guiding that group of human beings, full of emotions, feeling, memories and identities that we know as Company. 36

â&#x20AC;&#x153;The relationship between the cultural sphere and government, private enterprise and society driven mainly by the Cultural Incentive Laws has brought greater professionalism to the cultural market.â&#x20AC;?

The cultural milieu in the new scenario

Art and culture arise, especially in the present day world, as factors of human development (by working peopleâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s sensitivity, creativity and emotion) and social transformation (by containing registers, memory, creation of a collective identity, productive occupation of free time and socialization). Historically speaking, the artist has a visionary role and conveys models to individuals and reference points to society. Today he / she fulfills a dual mission: on the one hand, awakening emotions, talent and individual potential in people; on the other, creating new ways of expression, collective perception and stimulating social intermingling. There are many profiles of cultural and artistic segments, which makes the challenge of thinking of ways of developing the cultural market a monumental task. It contemplates multiple, many times conflicting interests of its varied agents. The conceptual and professional evolution of the sector, the appreciation of activities connected to it and consequent expansion

of the consumer market of cultural products and projects are common denominators desired by all those segments making up this market. The importance of artistic and cultural activities, as well as interest in them, are reflexes of the educational situation in the country. The valuing and fruition of these activities depend on socio-economic conditions of the population. The cultural area’s approach to the new scenario in which it relates with company and government when carrying out cultural activities for the community has occurred ever since the perception that intervention in this process became necessary, mainly due to financial and professional difficulties faced by the cultural sector. The Incentive Laws arose as a way to bring other agents into the cultural market, and this meant bringing both more resources as well as new competence and visions.

“The Incentive Laws brought other cultural agents into the market. That meant not only more resources but also new competence and visions.” 42

Despite everything still to be developed, the cultural market turns over large amounts of money coming from the Incentive Laws, a sponsoring company’s own funds or revenues generated from ticketing and sales of cultural products. This requires professionalism, efficacy and commitment to results. Amateurism is still the rule in this area - the lack of understanding of culture as an area of fundamental importance to human development, as well as a business inserted in a market subject to certain rules and business logic. Nevertheless, we can affirm that the relationship among the cultural sphere and government, private initiative and

society driven mainly by the Cultural Incentive Laws has brought greater professionalism to the cultural market. Since the laws came into effect, it is no longer enough for the artist to have just an idea of the artistic activity to be carried out. It is necessary to transform it into a true action plan. This process has required greater conceptual understanding on the part of professionals about the importance of their projects in relation to the artistic milieu in which they will be placed into practice, the points that justify them, in addition to perfect clarity about the practical necessities for their execution (human, financial and material resources, execution timetables and payment schedules and even the expected results and impacts). To accomplish such conceptual, practical requirements, professionals were recruited into this market who had heretofore not been summoned into the cultural field, such as lawyers, accountants, auditors, business administrators, economists and communications and marketing specialists, among others. Many projects contain specific characteristics involving various professions in order to conceive and execute them. They end up having professional interchange during the process with practically all of the artistic segments.

â&#x20AC;&#x153;It is not enough for the creating artist to just have an idea of the artistic activity to be carried out. One needs to transform it into a real action plan.â&#x20AC;? 45

Many professionals from the cultural area did not look favorably upon â&#x20AC;&#x201C; some still do not â&#x20AC;&#x201C; the involvement of professionals from other specializations in their business, as if the latter had received resources that would have been channeled to artists and for culture per se. In reality, one needs to perceive the introduction of these people in the cultural milieu as a step closer to professionalizing the area and consequently attracting new resources (yes!) that would not come without them. The entry of other professionals in the cultural area has meant greater credibility to the extent that it has brought into the artistic universe professionals familiarized with managerial language and with transit in the entrepreneurial and government circles. This means greater guarantee of achieving the results proposed originally and requiring greater involvement of company and government in those actions.

spread knowledge about the utilization of the laws. Today, many artistic areas have had successful experiences in conceiving, formatting and executing projects through mechanisms introduced by the Cultural Incentive Laws. Greater demands for professionalism began to occur from those responsible for making cultural activities feasible. These activities were now offered in greater volume, involving a larger number of players (besides the cultural area itself, government, companies, society) in a process of fine tuning language and expectations. Besides knowledge directly related to the artistic professions and placing works of arts in contact with their publics, this scenario made everyone aware of the reach and social dimension of cultural productions on the part of all the professionals involved in their realization.

In the beginning, the laws brought greater professionalism to artists and cultural producers on an individual basis. Later on, whole artistic segments also developed. From the successful experiences of some representatives of specific cultural areas in using the laws, this learning process was disseminated, which led other professionals to pursue similar opportunities. Little by little, the process began to reach artists from other segments, and these also repeatedly

â&#x20AC;&#x153;The Incentive Laws arise as an alternative to the lack of resources and bring the opportunity for creation of a collective cultural policy, executed by government and having private initiative and professionals from the cultural area as strategic allies.â&#x20AC;?

Government and the new cultural scenario

The complexity of social issues and lack of resources to solve them has led the government to rethink its omnipresence and focus on acting on emergency problems, directly related to the public welfare. The withdrawal of the State from some areas is part of this process in favor of focus on others. This resulted in the privatization of certain sectors, whose administration was until then attributed exclusively to government. In this scenario, arguments have been made by several segments of society to take a greater part in solutions which contribute to the improvement in living conditions for everyone. This is the case of initiatives in areas such as education, social assistance and culture. These latter have been developing partnerships with government, private initiative and organizations, such as NGOs. The Cultural Incentive Laws act as invitations from government to companies to act as one of the main forces in present day society to play an active role in developing actions that contribute to the development

of the cultural scenario. To that end, it is fundamental that the laws benefit qualified cultural projects, bringing effective contributions to forwarding specific points of this scenario. Therefore, both the vision and rigor of persons integrating commissions responsible for the selection of cultural proposals eligible for resources through the laws takes on great importance. So do mainly professionalism and commitment of the persons undertaking the projects. Incentive Laws have brought greater integration among government, private initiative, cultural institutions and agents. This process has resulted in significant progress in the relations among these forces for interventions in the cultural area. The multiplication of actions with more solid commitments, including a greater number of professionals involved and partnerships, makes the intervention brought by the laws a fundamental instrument for the constructions of widespread, inclusive actions. This new reality becomes especially important if one considers that the direct funds made available by government to cultural managers from the public administration have been reduced every year due to the administrative urgencies and financial difficulties that most states are undergoing. Funds to public cultural institutions, such as state offices and foundations, have been restricted practically to maintenance of their associated entities and to payroll. The laws arise as an alternative to the lack of resources and provide the opportunity for drawing up a collective cultural policy, executed by government

and having private initiative and professionals from the cultural area as strategic allies. In order for this collective cultural policy to be effective, the definition of city and state government priorities should be made jointly with artists, cultural producers and government representatives, civil society and private initiative. Only from that point forward should criteria be established and the selective process of the laws be fixed. The projects envisioned should contribute to implementing that public cultural policy established. For this process to be successful, it is necessary to include all those possible beneficiaries and users of the Incentive Laws in the process of discussion and decision making about its use. It becomes fundamental for all representatives in the cultural area to be part of the discussion of priorities and have access to orientation and information about the use of the laws. Otherwise, there is a risk of generating a gamma of actions that do not contemplate all cultural segments and do not fill the existing gaps. This would not ensure spaces and opportunities for the diverse cultural expressions and would not create a legitimate market for culture.

â&#x20AC;&#x153;Cultural Marketing has migrated from the condition of marketing tool at the exclusive service of brand promotion to an instrument of corporate citizenship and of cultural development of society.â&#x20AC;?

Company in the new cultural scenario

Private initiative has been quite active in areas whose responsibility has been traditionally attributed to the government. The proximity of the company to these areas occurs due to several issues, some of which extrapolate the universe of their business; others are limited within that context. The Cultural Incentive Laws brought an active role in cultural dynamics to private initiative for society by allowing companies to use resources previously channeled into taxes for the government. Although individual Brazilian companies find themselves in different moments in relation to cultural investments, we can perceive some motivations that highlight this relationship. Whether for questions of markets for its business (such as brand promotion and of its products and services), whether for institutional reasons (strengthening its image with specific stakeholders, such as shareholders, government, communications professionals), whether for specific interest in a more active participation in the lives

of the communities they operate in (and from which their employees, customers, suppliers and other stakeholders related to its operations come from), the fact is that the company has begun to act in the cultural area. This has made it an extremely strategic force for development of this area. From a historical viewpoint of the relationship between company and its representatives, on the one hand, and the cultural milieu on the other, there was not the slightest communion of interests among the parties. Pride in not supporting social causes and cultural instruments to express the business stance is slowly being replaced by a meeting of minds, i.e., what is good for sponsored programs is also good for the company. The point where the transformational actions are most present is where the best results for all involved are achieved. This includes not only company and the artists supported by it. It also includes the beneficiaries of the work developed by this partnership. It is possible to visualize corporate cultural actions migrating from a strictly market-oriented vision towards a stance committed to more transformational results, analyzing some more recent phases of the relationship between company and culture.

Fiscal incentives

Along with the Tax Incentive Laws, terms such as Fiscal Incentives and Cultural Marketing have occupied the center of debates and reflections in artistic circles and artists’ efforts to get closer to the business world. The saying “investing in culture is good business”, adopted in government publications and repeated in every cultural project distributed in the market in search of sponsorship, called attention to the fiscal, tax and economic aspects of the potential partnership between companies, artists and producers, with the State as intermediary. The intention was to call attention to the Cultural Incentive Laws being established in the country for the purpose of stimulating the channeling of funds from companies to investment in cultural projects analyzed ahead of time and evaluated by the competent parties. The idea of transforming part of the taxes collected that were to end up in public coffers into actions ensuring visibility to the sponsors’ brands

represented a first stimulus to the interest of bringing the theme into the business environment. Until today, statements are frequently heard in seminars on the issue about the need for efforts to “sensitize” the business community (invariably absent from such meetings). Having the argument of fiscal benefits as the main factor of awakening interest of the business world, corporate accountants and auditors became the main targets (later on, marketing professionals and upper management of the companies) of the efforts to promote the importance of cultural investment. Although isolated and ineffective, there have been many initiatives whose intention has been to incorporate the idea that investing in culture is good business, not just for economic or marketing reasons, but also social ones. The Cultural Incentive Laws signify the possibility of bringing under a company’s management resources generated by its own commercial operations, amplifying and strengthening actions in the cultural area. This is especially true of those companies that understand the importance of their role in sustaining the economy of society in the present day world. In other words, by elaborating its action planning and strategies with Incentive Laws, companies can also rely on a percentage of the tax that each law refers to (ISSQN, ICMS,

IRPJ – municipal, state and federal taxes, respectively). The amounts of these taxes added to the company’s resources enable it to elaborate a wide-ranging, consistent action plan. In addition to the deductible amounts, others are added to the total, that are equivalent to complements contributed by the company as required by law. However, new funds are invariably added to the latter. The laws also represent an official approval to the destined projects for funds channeled to them by the companies, which are determined by the technical commissions responsible for cultural project analysis. Understood in this manner, the laws constitute a modern instrument at the service of the cultural market, since they bring more than just resources. They bring vision as well as human, managerial and material resources of the company, which places its physical and commercial infrastructure at the service of its interventions in the cultural market and the projects it supports. The laws also serve (and this is extremely laudable) the expression of the image and posture of the investing company, thus approximating its brand to the communities to which it makes its products and services available. It is praiseworthy because it makes the company embrace the cause. It makes it understand and feel “in the flesh”

the transforming power of culture on society and the stakeholder community of employees, suppliers and other persons involved in its operations well before the public in general. This understanding is conducive to more involvement, more resources and, surely, to a more civic-oriented operation on the part of the company, thus contributing to a culturally wealthier society. Incentive Laws motivate partnerships between private enterprise and various government spheres, federal, state and municipal, around a cause perceived as fundamental for the healthy development of the collectivities that make up the country. The partnerships alone concretize a model that, by itself, means advancement in the relationship between State and profit-oriented companies. Instead of centralizing the decision of how much is to be invested in the cultural development of society and the destinations of those resources, the Cultural Incentive Laws represent convocation so that other forces in modern society also become involved in the process. In this sense, companies concentrate significant resources and are fundamental players. At first, this appeal comes from fiscal and market advantages for companies. However, with the execution of the actions foreseen in sponsored projects, other benefits of a social nature begin to sprout up and, in many cases, are superior to the previous ones. This is a long process. It begins with the company considering culture as an area that offers fiscal incentives, goes on to the discovery

of the possibilities of promoting its brand and culminates with its attention toward the results that its actions generate for society. Many companies become lost along the way. Others soon realize that, in order to fulfill only part of the advantages offered and have some impact over their business and on society, extra effort of a financial, human and material nature is needed. But the fact is that the process alone brings a number of advantages to all involved. Some companies create structures exclusively to deal with culture. These areas are increasingly professionalized and hire people with wide artistic knowledge and good transit in cultural circles. They operate as a link between the artistic objectives of the projects supported and the business strategies of the company. The objective is to arrive at common denominators brought by the partnership to both parties. These structures work as a meeting point between cultural activities carried out and several company areas, such as the presidentâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s office, which endorses them to the companyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s several stakeholders and fulfill institutional commitments through cultural activities. Executive offices, such as marketing and its parts, strengthen cultural actions and guarantee the adaptation of the company image transmitted through them in several marketing activities. In sales activities, it places its structure at the service of widening the reach of the projects and uses them as allies to attract the attention to the companyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s products and services. Human resources multiplies

the reach of the actions and uses cultural activities as opportunities to involve and develop professionals who work in the company. Furthermore, the tax, finance and legal departments are used in support of the actions performed. With the onset of Incentive Laws as essential instruments, one of the first steps is for the company to conceive strategies to act in the cultural area, identifying its potential utilization of the laws. Budgeting the amounts to be paid from each tax depends considerably on the organization and interchange of internal information in the company. Taxes, such as ICMS (state value-added tax) and ISSQN (municipal service tax) or IPTU (municipal property tax) used in state and municipal laws are calculated based on amounts of sales of products and services. Estimating for a certain period what a company collects in taxes month by month is only possible in companies with monthly sales plans. This is calculated based on potential tax generation, whether ICMS, ISSQN or IPTU, and on generation of ICMS credits, among other variables. In the case of federal law, which uses a percentage of income tax payable, the estimate is even more complicated. It requires not only the projection of amount sold monthly, to estimate company revenue, it also projects expenses so that the difference between the two is used to calculate profit in order to arrive at the tax calculation and at the amount to be invested in culture. Because many companies have dollar-based debts and expenses or linked

to other indices, it is difficult at times to arrive accurately at the projected profit of a company and, consequently, at the amount possible to be invested via federal law. The entire process makes the companyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s tax area a key player in corporate cultural investment. Other areas requiring great interface are marketing, sales and finance. The difficulty in detecting precise amounts to be invested through the laws had led many companies to simply not invest or pass on amounts well below its real potential. Others invest an amount superior to what is possible, which leads them to give up investing in culture the following year. The problem can be settled by circulating more information among sponsoring companies about the correct ways of preparing studies of amounts of each tax available, as well as models of using the laws. In accordance with the monthly potential for investment of Incentive Laws detected through estimates, the company prepares its strategies. To this end, it considers the volume of own funds to be supplied, whether for purposes of reciprocity or to give its cultural program the format, promotion and reach hoped for. From the budgets approved, in accordance with internal procedures of each company, those projects are chosen among federal, state and municipal taxes that contribute to the final format of the planned cultural program. Only after that will a company invest its funds in projects in amounts agreed upon with each artist, deducting the amounts foreseen in each Incentive Law from the total to be paid in taxes.

Most of the time, the potential and financial limitations of a company added to the characteristics of its commercial operation allow it to identify and adopt its cultural action model. This action may contemplate artistic segments and specific target projects or a varied range of actions. Financial involvement of the company with cultural activities occurs through several currencies. This includes both repasses of funds directly to the projects and availability of products, services and other material and human resources belonging to its structure or contracted by it. In addition to deductible resources made possible through Cultural Incentive Laws, in most cases, investment of the companyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s own funds to complement the incentive is required. This is extremely healthy because it brings new resources to the cultural area and leads the company to mobilize several of its areas to support the projects, since some laws (such as the State Cultural Incentive Law of Minas Gerais) allow complementation to be given both in financial resources as well as in services and materials. The process itself of researching possible complementation items in the structure of a company creates involvement in several areas whose results are valued by everyone. This process greatly expands the original reach of the sponsored projects and incorporates the involvement of cultural activities into the life of the company in a movement that ensures results, including those of a motivational order.

A companyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s own resources X deductible resources Analyses of the economic impact of a companyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s cultural actions are generally concentrated on the calculation of deductible resources and funds invested directly in cultural activities. These analyses disregard accounting of the main resources brought by the company to the cultural sphere: the structure set up to conceive such strategies, give support to and make feasible cultural actions associated to its brand, as well as amount made available directly to its execution. They are resources channeled into initiatives that expand not only quality with the actions performed. but also expand the reach and results to the communities. If we consider the amounts invested directly by the company in salaries, including charges and benefits, of full-time professionals and part-time outsourced labor dedicated to cultural activities, and add this to the expenses of the company to perform the above, we realize that the company invests large sums to maintain the structure placed at the service of culture. In order to have an idea of these funds, it is enough to list some of the items needed to carry out corporate cultural activities, many of which are multiplied by the volume and frequency of these actions and by the number of professionals dedicated to them. One needs to consider the expenses with offices and other physical space occupied. This includes expenses, such as rent, water, electric power, fixed and mobile telephones, mail and office materials, administrative functions, maintenance and cleaning, rented and purchased equipment, expenses related to computers, data connection and

transmission, use of fleet vehicles, air and ground transportation, hotels and restaurants. Likewise, it is necessary to compute “intangible” resources in this account that support material and human infrastructure, either in-house or outsourced, used in performing the company’s cultural actions. Inhouse communications media or purchased media made available to expand the partnership should be considered, especially those media the company uses to communicate with its customers, such as its Internet site, monthly accounts and statements, mobile phone communications and other electronic means. It is also important to compute expenses with third-party companies connected to commercial operation made available to culture, such as advertising, creation and maintenance agencies and updating its communications via Internet, press services, clippings, promotions, events production and direct marketing. Third party labor needed to execute cultural activities within standards established by actions that carry its brands, such as promoters, advertisers and receptionists, among many other functions, should be added to the list. It is worthy to note that the sponsoring company, in addition to banking the working of the outsourced companies mentioned, is fundamental in the process of making the latter place their work and service structures at the service of the cultural market. Many of them make demands in relation to the value of the accounts they serve, making it difficult for those who work in the cultural market to rely on such quality work without interference from the sponsoring company.

The business structure itself of the company, its call center, its store network, attendants, its marketing and sales force, is also placed at the service of sponsored projects, generating expansion of their impact and adding a dimension and quality to artists often unthinkable without company partnership. It is clear that the greater the volume of the company’s own resources repassed directly on to cultural activities, the more “new money” is being injected into the cultural market. However, other currencies brought into projects, besides “cash” money are also very meaningful. Many non-financial resources are made available by the company, guaranteeing the quality of the management process of the sponsored projects and, indeed, of the resources (public ones included) involved in them.

Placing its managerial staff, its professionals and its commercial structures at the service of the execution or even the follow-up of cultural act ivit ies receiving resources from companies is very valuable. Also, considering the 73

relevance of the action, we are speaking of the company managing public resources – in cash, services or using its human and material structures – at the service of public interest. To consider as resources brought by the company only the deductible amounts and own resources invested directly by it in the cultural area is equivalent to frequently not realizing that the greatest contributions brought by the company to this market are exactly the “indirect” resources made available for sponsored cultural actions, such as, for example, planning, management, strategic thinking to achieve concrete results, terms used daily by professionals employed by the company. These points have more impact on the result of cultural work developed than the balance between company resources and deductible resources invested by the company - a comparison that is frequently brought to light when the economic relationship between company and culture is analyzed.

Comparisons like this are presumably motivated by the understanding that the use of a greater volume of deductible resources would make the cultural actions of the company less relevant, since it would be using more “public” than private resources. As said earlier, the requirement that a company invest its own resources as matching funds is healthy because it brings new resources to the cultural area and because it generates an educational process, as many areas are involved in cultural action investments. However, besides not considering all the currencies channeled by the company, to perceive a company only as a financier is, at a minimum, to misunderstand all its potential at the service of performing cultural actions. This generates distortions, such as the mistaken idea that the company is better when it invests its own rather than deductible funds. This comparison is made regardless of an analysis of global involvement of the sponsoring corporation, the destination given to the amounts invested and the results generated.

Proﬁle of selected projects Understanding cultural action of companies through fiscal incentives as merely the use of “public money at the service of private interests” disregards the importance of thousands of cultural actions by companies and looks only at the visibility generated for their brands. If the sponsored cultural project is relevant and held as expected when approved by the Incentive Laws, does it not become, in principle, “at the service of the public interest”? The focus of any analysis should always be the merit of actions accomplished.

The reason, after all, is that what matters is what was done, not how it was paid for. To diminish or increase the importance of an action because it used resources paid from taxes - and not by the company - is, at a minimum, privileging the processes in detriment of the results. Some observations in relation to the profile of sponsored projects are important. Contrary to appearances, in the scenario of Cultural Incentive Laws, it is not the companies that determine what profile of projects are available for execution. What the companies do is choose, within projects approved by the laws, those that make cultural interventions more in tune with their visions. The selection of qualified projects is made by those people in commissions for analysis of projects submitted for approval of the laws, most of which are made up of representatives of diverse cultural segments. Thus, in principle, every project sponsored through Cultural Incentive Laws is (or at least should be) relevant. There is an understanding, however, that it is not up to representatives of the project analysis commissions to evaluate their merit, since every cultural manifestation is important for society. A technical evaluation should be made, observing the appropriateness of costs, coherence of its objectives and results proposed. Once the projects are approved, they are placed in the market in search of sponsoring companies in tune with their proposals. The final contradiction in this process is raised by critics of what is perceived as being the profile of projects chosen by the sponsoring companies, in a way to defend the thesis that the model introduced by the Cultural Incentive

Laws tends to generate exclusions and distortions in the cultural area. Among other points, “preference” by companies for projects and artistic areas “that offer greater visibility for their brands” is made by some in detriment to other needier, culturally important segments; it condemns the choosing of projects protagonized by popular artists (many times artists who are not beginners are considered as such), alleging that these “do not need resources”, as opposed to artists that still have not found their space in the market. Some remarks are worthwhile in relation to the choices made by the companies. Brand visibility of the company is not necessarily associated to the sponsored project’s profile or the artistic area in which it is inserted. Rather, it is related to the competence and to the correct strategies of generating this visibility, a long-term perspective and to the commitment of all involved in the partnership. The understanding that the projects that move the greatest number of publics and generate greater brand exposition would be, in principle, those that offer greater return for the image of the company is mistaken. It is based on the premise that companies exclusively seek brand exposure in sponsoring projects, which is not always true. Many companies might not be seeking exposition, rather brand qualification, getting closer to specific publics and segments or even modifying some aspects related to the communities they act in. An example is the support been given to cultural projects that have art as a vehicle for social transformation and civic redemption, especially of children and adolescents at risk.

Every company should build its cultural strategies considering the best possible associations to cultural projects in view of their potential for intervention based on its business proﬁle, market positioning, characteristics of its markets and economic and social contexts.

transformation of a given scenario, i.e., the perception that that action is only possible thanks to the intervention of the company.

The company should seek to be a protagonist and choose actions that a difference”. From consistent planning of the cultural action policy of each company and coherence in its actions in relation to this policy come its visibility in the marketplace, not from the isolated choice of this or that project, this or that cultural area. The same can be said in relation to sponsorship of “well known” artists. There

On the other hand, it is also important to mention that the notion that groups and artists already established in the market do not need Cultural Incentive Laws is a mistaken one. Normally, these artists work with the most prominent professionals and best structure in the market. The size of the projects they are involved in and the commitment to artistic quality of the work they do (which many times explains their recognition by the market), are impossible to be paid for exclusively with ticket revenues.

is confusion that should be cleared up. One thing is the visibility of the main artist of the project; another is the visibility of the company that supports his / her work. The greatest gain in image that a company can have in its investments in culture is exactly associating its brand to an active role in the

Additionally, understanding the role of Cultural Incentive Laws as investing exclusively in “beginners” would be equivalent to betting on the “eternal starting over”: all available resources would be channeled to beginning artists

“make

Many times, sponsoring a “known” artist does not generate appreciation for the company role. It is naive to suppose that a feeling of “gratitude” will be generated for a company having sponsored that specific action of the “favorite artist of the masses”. It is very clear for all that that company, as with other sponsors, is just associating its brand to a specific action, not having a significant role in the construction of a career of the artist in question, nor his work. The more famous the artist, the greater the restrictions for evidencing the brand of the sponsoring company, also because there tends to be more sponsors, support and influences involved in the realization of the action. The company that spends more on communication for the purpose of reinforcing brand association to the event is the one more connected to it.

who, after a certain investment in their work, would develop into “veterans” and not deserve any more resources for already having been contemplated. The consequence of this distorted vision would be a constant sequence of creation and extinction of groups and artistic work conceived in a paternalistic scenario, absolutely dependent on financing mechanism based on the nonrecognition of talent and compensation of fragility in the face of a market perceived as cruel and unfair. To assume that beginning artists can only establish themselves in the present scenario from generous and careful attention of the laws can mean for many leapfrogging and even creating dependence to such an extent as to take them to extinction upon the ceasing of care and protection. Another possible consequence of the vision that the objective of the laws is to invest mainly in those who are not well-structured and are at the wayside of public acceptance is the establishment of relationships between artists and producers based only on the execution of specific projects and a beginning and end defined in a type of cultural union on a project-by-project basis. The process does not create models which are adopted mainly by consistency and quality developed by artists and groups with greater time for dedication to a certain artistic work. It is exactly this type of creation and dissemination of models that point out the importance of also contemplating groups and artists with consolidated work with resources coming from the Cultural Incentive Laws. They are artists and groups that logically were beginners in the past and that many times had to overcome initial difficulties (both financial and esthetic, conceptual). This is a factor of basic importance to discover one’s artistic identity, their differentials before the communities

to which they address their art and, finally, to build their work. The process is essential for all that follow their path to an artistic career. The ideal situation is really to seek a balance between channeling resources to new artists and to more experienced ones. Denying the legitimacy of these artists to seek resources through Cultural Incentive Laws by supposing they have more of a chance of establishing themselves than others means punishing their talent and recognition achieved with dedication and much work. Behind this issue the idea that resources should encompass all in pursuing the “democratization” of the use of the law is included, ensuring equal rights for all project proponents, independent of their career and cultural merits of their proposals, as if the objective of the laws were to promote “justice” in distributing resources and not the generation of a healthier cultural and social situation. Taken to its extreme, for example, if there were a thousand dollars to be distributed to a thousand proponents, the best solution would be to give a dollar to each one. No one would do anything, and the cultural milieu would remain in need. As to the critics of company investment in certain project profiles, it is important to note that companies choose those that will receive their resources from among those selected by commissions that analyze the proposals submitted to the laws. The question then arises: is it the task of companies (and only theirs) to enter into the evaluation of the cultural merit of projects and artists involved in them, since this is not the role attributed to those in charge of project analysis together with the Cultural Incentive Laws (in whose eyes all artistic projects have equal relevance)? Would it be

the companies in the context of the Cultural Incentive Laws the only ones responsible for guaranteeing the perfect balance of the cultural market, making their sponsorship an instrument of corrections in it? The project selection process provided under the laws brings a working logic that could allow the construction of a truly collective cultural policy. This would happen if a larger cultural organization were to be created, along with a greater articulation and interface among professionals in this area and the members of the analysis and selection commissions for projects. This collective cultural policy could be implemented by representatives from diverse cultural segments and the public sector and executed in partnership with private initiative. From the consensus on the urgent needs of the cultural sector for a certain period, projects would be given priority in the selective process that would contribute to the evolution or transformation of those specific points indicated a priority. By investing in projects approved by the Cultural Incentive Laws, the company would necessarily be contributing to the implantation of a collective cultural policy and for the transformation of the artistic milieu in its area of action. Regarding the criticism to the financial model brought by the Cultural Incentive Laws, although re-evaluations and corrections in direction are always valid, one needs to pay attention to other points. The laws have existed in the market for a relatively short time and have been inconstantly applied. Considering the large universe of influences they

deal with â&#x20AC;&#x201C; companies, government, cultural area professionals and society â&#x20AC;&#x201C; it is premature to speak of success or failure of this model. However, it is a fact that, thanks to the laws, the area has been undergoing several phases of transformation, overcoming obstacles, modifying behavior and bringing professionalism, articulation and exchange in the cultural media, to those government representatives of culture and to company professionals. Considering the number of minds to be enlightened, processes to be transformed and people to be sensitized, the laws have not been in existence long enough. To compare the point we are at with an ideal hypothetical format for the functioning of cultural dynamics of society is important, but it does not show how much has been advanced through this model in relation to the practices in the cultural area. Perhaps it is more important at this moment to compare the present stage of development each one of the cultural segments were at some years ago and perceive to what extent this transformation can be attributed to the working of the laws. Of course, there are those today who are at the margin of this process. However, it is noteworthy to observe that many of them were also at the margin of the scenario before the laws and should not, therefore, be used as negative examples generated by the laws. These areas should, indeed, be targeted for actions of inclusion into the present market.

Saying that the model created by the laws “didn’t work” is to conclude that we have already arrived at the end of a process. Indeed, it has not yet begun. There is no way to make a conclusive evaluation of the model, because, at no time have efforts been made to expand and decentralize the use of the laws. The process would solve the main pro blem: the concentrat ion of projects and sponsors. Actions to guide the beneﬁciaries of the laws have not been developed in order 86

for the laws to be better utilized and to multiply the experiences of those beneďŹ ciaries. Issues that would require actions oriented to qualify managers, producers, artists and private and public sector specialists need to be discussed. After all, there is much to be done. However, we must admit that it is easier to criticize the model and place the blame for its distortions on â&#x20AC;&#x153;lack of business community visionâ&#x20AC;?.

â&#x20AC;&#x153;The image a company builds in its market is made up of values disseminated in the organization which are reflected in the conduct of people that represent it and by the set of actions chosen by these people to demonstrate their position to society.â&#x20AC;?

Brand visibility

The appeal to transform value to be paid in taxes into “marketing” is the entryway into the subject of Cultural Marketing in the corporate environment. It has revealed itself to be attractive to corporations. However, observing the relationship constructed between the company and culture from this calling, one perceives that the search for “good business” promised, such as return on investment in cultural projects, has led company and professionals from the cultural area to seek development and improvement of other attractions and benefits besides the fiscal ones. This search has caused cultural marketing events and actions to be seen as almost an alternative media. Arguments are frequently made that point to brand association of companies to cultural actions as a solution for the difficulty faced by corporations to demonstrate their positioning and get their messages across. The consumer of company products and services is increasingly harder to be

reached by traditional communication channels and to be profiled. If, on the one hand, local companies dispute the market with others whose head offices and shareholders come from all parts of the world, bringing global characteristics to competition, on the other, domestic markets are increasingly more segmented. Defining consumers’ habits and the most effective communication media to reach certain target publics has never been so difficult. Traditional media offers few alternatives for differentiating a company’s message in relation to its competition. Its efficacy is questionable when comparing cost-benefits with the targets it seeks through them. Depending on corporate objectives, the number of people targeted might not be the best parameter to measure the efficacy of a certain media. Added to the difficulty in focusing the messages is the enormous standardization of commercial appeals of different products advertised in TV, radio, newspapers, magazines and billboards. Additionally, the high cost of these media, which depend on high rates of repetition of the message in order for assimilation to occur, make their use only viable for companies with large communication budgets. On the other hand, there are the “new” communication media (cable TV and Internet) and alternative media (electronic panels, bus and public transportation areas, building

facades). Others are direct communication through specialty magazine advertising directed towards specific publics, direct mailing, e-mails and cellphone messaging, among others. All of this offers great diversity and pulverization to communication and, for this reason, make focusing on certain targets harder in the midst of an immense mosaic of society and its fragmented communication channels. Given the difficulty of differentiating a company’s image from its competitors’, relying only on these communication vehicles, a company’s cultural investments come to be viewed as a differentiated communication strategy and qualification of the sponsoring company’s image with its target publics and people with multiplying power of the messages received. In this sense, cultural events offered the company the possibility of placing its brand in contact with a highly qualified public in such aspects as level of education and income class, as well as in a situation of total receptivity to the appeals presented. Audiences in cultural events normally meet with minds totally open to that experience, which surrounds the event itself and all the structure that supports the realization of it – including its sponsors. The high cost of some cultural projects demands that this cost be divided into quotas, classified as a presenter, sponsor or supporter, depending on the size of financial or

material resources invested by the companies in the project. Logically, the larger or more essential the funds are, the more exclusive and larger is the space offered to exhibit the brand. Regarding this, considering only the communication aspect, analysis of its potential investment and involvement only in those cultural projects where resources are relevant has become a business strategy to the extent that they deserve greater attention.

direct marketing strategies by means of delivering printed materials and message by electronic media; the utilization of a company’s own communication channels used directly with its customer universe, such as announcements in bills and invoices sent out monthly; the publication of information about actions sponsored on the company website; distribution of invitations to preferential customers or those specially in tune with the appeal of the sponsored action.

Current cultural market trend is to divide the project into modules or specific actions. This solves the problem that cultural producers face of finding sponsors with potential investment sufficient to bank the cost of the entire program envisaged in their projects, or at least a part worthy highlighting. The actions of a project come to be sponsored individually by different companies in accordance with their identification of the actions undertaken.

The work of the press staff of the specific event is complemented by measures taken by the company’s press staff. They act in a coordinated, complementary fashion to the work of the sponsored project’s staff. This strengthens the association of the company to the events resulting from them, emphasizing the points that led it to unite for the project’s execution. It is also the role of the company’s press staff to extend the transmission of information about the partnership to specific editors of communication vehicles that cover areas related to the company’s business. Press conferences, whenever necessary, should include the presence of a company representative along with producers and artists involved in the project and should preferably take place inside company headquarters in order to further reinforce and celebrate the partnership.

Brand visibility of the sponsoring company is guaranteed by several factors foreseen or created in sponsored actions. Based on the comparison of the amounts to be invested with the total cost of the project and with resources repassed by other sources, the sponsoring company’s brand, duly highlighted, is stamped on printed materials and in announcements in traditional and alternative communication vehicles. Some actions, by sponsors or from the sponsored producers, expand brand visibility, such as the use of the store network as sales points for distribution of project tickets and pamphlets; the execution of

The set of promotional procedures adopted to make the company’s institutional image present in events also contributes to the association of the company to sponsored projects. They are actions that complement those of the communication department per se and promote a greater presence of the company at the moment of

the encounter of the artists with the public. It is a moment that extrapolates communication through rational means, bringing several components that make the experience unique. It is a moment of celebration of the results achieved by the efforts, which, in many cases, took years of work by many professionals. The promotional procedures are composed of items, such as signaling and creating an ambience at the physical locations where the actions are realized and the place they are made public. These are key moments in the partnership. Spaces in which collective press conferences and ticket sales occur and spaces for distribution of invitations and informative materials are examples. The objective here is to try to achieve synergy between the cultural actions and company products and services. Making available communication channels used by these products and services in favor of a better product promotion contributes to this.

It is important to point out that the relationship between sponsored and sponsoring parties is a two–way street. Cultural actions promote a company’s brand. At the same time, the sponsoring company promotes the importance and breadth of the artistic projects 98

in its efforts to associate its image to theirs and to reinforce their afﬁnities in such a way as to justify and qualify its choices. Endorsing artists’ work, touching on specific points and background of actions performed – in all in-house communication channels and those paid by the company – is a process that most certainly greatly amplifies the reach of everyone’s work, causing it to be perceived by the publics that wouldn’t have been reached without the partnership established with private initiative. Many companies, however, look at cultural events exclusively as an instrument of generating brand visibility, which creates misperceptions like, for example, attributing, as a matter of principle, greater importance to a project that brings media insertions of certain vehicles in its plan, when compared to another project that does not foresee similar investment. The shortsightedness of this analysis based only on the communication potential of cultural actions resides in the fact that each cultural event brings several other attributes that may become more relevant for the cultural market and for its association to the company when analyzed under different angles.

Presently, the company disputes the market having to face one more challenge than simply to put into practice new management technique and marketing formulas. It is not enough to offer an excellent product at a competitive price using adequate communication media and making it available in the main consumer markets. This is because products and services offered by competing companies are increasingly similar to theirs. Products and services tend to become more similar not only in manufacturing traits and technologies. They also are offered to their publics in a similar fashion. Besides, their communication, their logistics and distribution channels are also the same. For the consumer, the task of making a choice becomes increasingly arduous based only on quality, advantages and facilities offered by the products themselves. Based on this premise, one of the greatest potentials of cultural actions has become the possibility of expressing the attributes, values and beliefs of a company, differentiating it from the competition in a subtle, innovative way. Instead of explicitly expressing these concepts through communication events, the company associates artistic activities that transmit them to the publics of interest. The central point in this type of approach is that some attributes perceived as connected to that activity or specific artistic segment

100

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are transferred to the company brand. The transgression of a contemporary dance group, for example, would bring to the image of a sponsoring company concepts like innovation, freedom, breaking paradigms and rupture with rules and conventions. This type of association, logically, does not happen miraculously nor can it be considered outside the context of the company’s positioning in its commercial operation with all the signals emitted by it to society and end up constructing its image. Company reputation is constituted, among other factors, by how it relates to society, how it deals with expectations and collective desires. The corporation constructs and promotes its image through every situation in which it interacts with society, not only by means of its institutional actions but also principally (given its great reach and volume) by means of its commercial actions. In this sense, it is important to note that companies do not usually include concerns that base their institutional actions in their more intensive, frequent communications, especially in airing of commercial advertising in conventional media. Few companies worry about transforming their opportunities of interaction with the public in general through advertising campaigns in communication media in moments to express their “values and beliefs” by positioning themselves in a correct, ethical manner using that communication channel as a vehicle to construct a better society. Most companies consider their institutional efforts totally disconnected from their commercial operations. Many times while searching for memorable scripts for their thirty second advertising films, they will air campaigns reinforcing preconceived notions

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“Alongside institutional and marketing initiatives, cultural actions demonstrate a company’s positioning and how it relates to communities.” 103

that contribute to increase discrimination, positioning the brand and the company as an instrument of reaffirmation of social distortions. It is common to see commercials which create stereotypes and generalizations, those associating roles to certain minorities not corresponding to reality or valuing individualistic behavior. Other commercials err by using anti-ethical strategies, such as belittling persons or creating negative images for those who do not give in to their consumer appeals, especially segments more susceptible to this type of manipulation, such as children and teenagers. The company takes a great stride when it begins to consider that all corporate initiatives are part of a process of expressing their ethical commitments. This includes daily actions in the operational (employee relations, formalization and execution of ethical codes), marketing (advertising, competitor relationship), commercial (relations with suppliers, customers) and institutional areas (shareholder relations, government, society, non-profit entities). A company, regardless of the business it is in, can be defined as an organization set up to produce and sell certain products and offer services. Its objective is to satisfy certain specific demands of society and, by doing so, profit from it, maximizing return to its investors and shareholders. The viewpoint about the company as having specific entrepreneurial attributes and attitudes makes sense, especially when considering that, in order to achieve its objectives, it relies only on the mind of each of the persons who conduct its business, and

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the sum total of the individual visions corresponds to a certain action profile. From this viewpoint, the companyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s image in the market is formed by values disseminated in the organization, ones reflecting the conduct of people who represent it and by the set of actions chosen by these people to demonstrate their positioning to society. The challenge then becomes the choice of actions which reflect, reinforce and contribute to the positioning of a company and the attitude of the group of professionals who carry it forward in the market. Brand association to events and cultural projects is one of the elements that a company has available to demonstrate its positioning. Alongside institutional, social, environmental and sports initiatives, cultural actions demonstrate how the company relates to the communities in which it make its products and services available. By making certain choices, organizing and making use of them with higher objectives than the spectrum of reach of each individual action, the company demonstrates its attitude to its publics, as well as its beliefs, its way of positioning and relating directly or indirectly to them.

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â&#x20AC;&#x153;Promoting socially responsible corporate actions provokes a movement, mainly in its publics and in other companies that see in these initiatives examples to be followed or topped. The result is a multiplying effect.â&#x20AC;?

Shock value, or “Bad news is good news”

Information about community–focused corporate actions is released in a communications media atsmosphere that, for the most part, has the viewpoint that most news that is newsworthy has to be “bad” news, have shock value or call attention because it upsets us. Just look in any newspaper, magazine or TV or radio news program to understand what is perceived to be of the public interest by those responsible for these communications media. In summary, many vehicles of communication put into practice the classic phrase, “journalism is the art of separating the wheat from the chaff... and to publish the chaff...” Against this background, companies and non-profit institutions are attempting to bring their actions in favor of the community - their good actions, their good news - to the attention of the public. The perception of communications media professionals that “good news does not interest its publics” is added to their lack of interest in covering socially responsible

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corporate initiatives, even though they may be distinct from marketing objectives, because they are seen as having mercantile motives. For those responsible for the commercial area of communications media, the idea exists that this type of thing comes from the company with the exclusive interest of giving visibility to their brand. Therefore, they conclude that it should be promoted by the company through paid advertising, not by freeâ&#x20AC;&#x201C;press journalistic coverage. From this standpoint, to cover materials of this type of action would inhibit paid announcements by the companies in these vehicles. If this is the reality in relation to the commercial viewpoint of communications media, we perceive that the news editors and professionals in the area are reluctant to report company social deeds in journalistic coverage. They feel it would be biased, as if such coverage would be serving the mere promotion of the image of the company that undertook the action, not the act of making public an action of public interest. Many company actions in favor of the community do not reach the eye of the public in general. Reasons are many, e.g., the company fears that community actions will be confused with marketing objectives. Others are on the part of the communications media, who are hesitant because they

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feel these actions may be perceived as commercial interests contaminating their journalistic coverage. This ends up restricting the breadth and benefit of the actions and reduces the potential for stimulating similar attitudes on the part of companies and society itself. In this respect, collective interest issues are superficially treated, especially in electronic vehicles, like TV and radio. There, the moments dedicated to themes are measured in seconds. This time limitation results in the negative facts coming to light. Very little is said about the positive acts that are normally derived from them in order to minimize its impact and in which context cultural and social actions of companies are carried out. In relation to the spaces in communications media where materials on companyâ&#x20AC;&#x201C;sponsored cultural projects are aired, some observations are worth noting. Generally speaking, without elements that make the positions about the themes publicized clear, the press relies on releases sent to them to cover the topics. These elements should give an idea of the appreciation of a specific cultural policy, or at least a strategy of giving the reading public means to discern the reasons for such actions. Thus, the journalistsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; role is reduced to edit the releases and adapt them to the reduced spaces available for coverage of that fact or subject.

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Additionally, practices still persist, such as the denial by certain communications media of covering corporate–sponsored cultural events which do not pay for airing announcements of such actions. In some press vehicles, journalistic articles are understood as mere complements of commercial advertising and as a lack of respect to the publics of these media, to all professionals involved in the actions omitted and mainly to the beneficiaries of the actions, who will not have access to information about them. Not making cultural action public simply because it is executed or sponsored by a company which did not pay to divulge it is equivalent to disregarding the role of communications vehicles of making public service announcements. The latter publicize news of the community’s interest, such as cultural actions. It would be equivalent to not disclosing news of a robbery that occurred at the local bank because neither the bank nor the robbers paid for advertising the fact. It is also the same as punishing the competence of the participating artists, who entered into the private company partnership to perform their artistic activities. This defeats the very purpose of the sponsorship they obtained by virtue of the quality of their art and their powers of articulation. The fact that cultural action is made possible through resources channeled through companies should make it even more noteworthy, since, besides the characteristics of the event and its cultural importance alone, the fact that there are several influences behind

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the act may be of public interest. The company investment may signify an endorsement to customers and publics connected to it. This enhances perception of the action’s importance and reach. This is something that can generate the multiplication of these actions and similar models, extrapolating the recognition of the action in itself. As for mentioning the sponsoring company, it needs to be said that the long-standing reluctance of some areas of communication to cover companies that finance projects is being gradually won over, although some vehicles still resist. As previously mentioned, this resistance has its origins in commercial issues of the vehicles that saw their advertising income diminish by giving the company name publicity when covering cultural events sponsored by it. In some articles, even the name of the event was changed when it was related to the sponsors or referred to them as, for example, “sponsored by an important mobile telephone company from Minas Gerais”. The greatest contradiction in this process occurs when something goes wrong during the event’s execution. In this case, the name of the company is always mentioned and coverage is extended and may even occupy other sections of the newspapers. After all, when it comes to bad news.... The disparity between space coverage of positive and negative facts reminds me of a situation in a debate on cultural journalistic coverage. A writer in the audience manifested his indignation to press

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representatives at the table on stage. He said that it took an extraordinary amount of effort to obtain a small note in the paper about his literary works that took years to complete, while “any petty thief in the first years of his career could get front page coverage with picture and all for his first robbery.” In the midst of the discussion about what is or is not newsworthy, what awakens the public interest or not, his conclusion was that “literature doesn’t pay”.... As to the understanding that a company’s institutional actions would be perceived and executed by it in substitution of its investments in advertising, it needs to be clarified that most of a company’s institutional actions are

Additionally, it is worthwhile to recall the motivations of a company when investing in cultural actions. They are and tend to increasingly be of another nature, one that does not merely seek market returns. Most sponsorship resources are made available to the artists and cultural activities themselves and not for the promotion. However, a growing number of companies utilize paid advertising in communications media to inform their publics of their social responsibility actions. Until recently, such actions were restricted to the institutional sphere and not interfaced with commercial actions.

included in a situation separated from its commercial actions. This perception is confirmed by the fact that publicizing company sponsorship does not substitute paid brand advertising. Most of the time, reporting cultural promotion touches on aspects of support to that specific event or other events of a similar nature - something with limited reflex on its business, the true focus of its investments in advertising. Comparing the mention of a company’s name in the middle of an article in the cultural section of a newspaper to paid announcements or communications, we are talking about absolutely different communications with different objectives, different publics and, in most cases, managed by areas of the company with their own budgets and completely diverse goals. While cultural sponsorship fulfills institutional objectives, traditional advertising fulfills commercial objectives and will continue to be advertised regardless of coverage given to cultural actions.

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The issue of whether it is “politically correct” to promote cultural and social actions of companies is polemical. On the one hand, there are those who defend that, in order for the actions to have value, they should be performed altruistically and not bring gains in image to the companies, since they would be closer to a marketing strategy than to an act of corporate citizenship. On the other hand, there are those who understand that, if the initiatives are culturally and socially relevant, it is not only correct, but also important to be communicated. According to this viewpoint, the company interacts in such a significant manner with society, that, as such, its actions should always be explained, disseminated and made public. Even in the case of a company carrying on cultural and social actions only for their news value, exclusively seeking image gains as a result of this attitude, such behavior generates positive reflexes about the way it conducts business. By promoting its beneficiary actions, the company ends up inserting them in

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its business agenda and improving on them so that they may serve to renew their potential to generate public attention. This is a natural demand of the beneficiaries and agents of those actions, as well. It is also important to note that, regardless of a companyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s reasons, the realization and promotion of socially responsible actions provokes a movement, mainly with its publics and with other companies, as well. The latter perceive these initiatives as examples to be followed or topped, thus contributing to the multiplication of attitudes of this nature. It needs to be said that the practice of not mentioning the sponsoring company discourages the entry of new investors in the cultural market. They may see that, through sponsorship they would at least be promoting brand visibility. This would be the beginning of a process that would make the company perceive other benefits to the association of its brand to culture (besides the visibility), for its business and for the relationship of its publics and with the community in general. It would lead it to expand and deepen its activities in this area.

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In other words, giving visibility to the company that invests in culture may be a stimulus to the entry of more resources in the cultural market. This would generate a greater number of actions, which would surely mean more content for communications vehicles, more direct and indirect investments channeled to them and certainly a better-served society, culturally speaking.

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â&#x20AC;&#x153;Corporate actions that use Culture as a vehicle to redeem citizenship intervene in an environment of social instability. They interface with the social fabric, not just the economical aspects of communities.â&#x20AC;? >>

Cultural Development

The interaction between company and the cultural milieu has migrated into a partnership whose commitments contemplate publics previously excluded from this reunion. If, on the one hand, we had the company offering resources as a rule, on the other, cultural activities offering brand visibility to the company, the first concrete experiences start to arise that can be understood as the beginning of a new phenomenon: the creation of corporate cultural policies. The company being aware of its potential uses its infrastructure to develop the overall cultural scenario. Several reasons explain the change in focus on the part of companies. Initially, it is fundamental to recognize, through Cultural Incentive Laws, not only the role to approximate companies to culture, in a relationship intermediated and accompanied by the government, but also mainly to stimulate the creation of common denominators between the two universes, demanding the expansion of vision and professionalism on both parts. By permitting

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the utilization of resources that would be channeled to the benefit of society as a whole in the form of taxes, the law brought commitments of a public nature, requiring a commitment with concepts of inclusion, access, qualification, evolution and transformation.

realization of partnerships and carrying out actions that promote access to several cultural manifestations. From a company standpoint, the search for wider and more inclusive parameters can be pointed out to guide its community actions and to base analyses of its results. In other words, there is increasing interest to extend the benefits of company

We can also attribute this conceptual evolution of practicing Cultural Marketing to the maturing and consolidation of experiences of professionals in the cultural environment, as well as companies and the structures created by them to deal with this area. The story of these actions carried out has already proved a source of learning and stimulus in the quest for improvement. Considering that these actions involve, on the one hand, artists whose personal and professional trademark is creativity and restlessness, and, on the other, companies whose results have as raw material exactly the overcoming and search for new paths, concepts as evolution and renovation are sought after in these partnerships, now conducted on a medium and long-term basis.

investments in culture to the largest number of people possible, in addition to the artists sponsored. Corporate cultural actions committed to development of the cultural milieu, whether they are to improve the conditions under which art is produced or to facilitate access on the part of a wider layer of the population, signal a change in company attitude in relation to its involvement with the area. For this reason, they can be seen as materialization of a vision oriented toward cultural development of society and as an evolution of what has been termed as Cultural Marketing. In the company-culture relationship, we begin to see

Other factors have brought into the company窶田ultural milieu relationship interest in going beyond the vision at hand exclusively in the benefits restricted to these two sides. From the viewpoint of professionals of culture, the need for restructuring and consolidation of this market and expansion of publics for artistic work requires of their projects the

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something like what also happens with corporate investments in the social area, whose focus migrates from an attitude of assistance to a strategic one and directed towards concrete, transformational results. Likewise, awareness of the company and the professionals in the cultural area grows with respect to just how little effect the financing of culture

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and realization of cultural events can have when it is based only on brand name exposition in printed materials and communications media. Good communications planning is no longer a differential of this or that project. It is not, therefore, the element that would justify its choice by the company. It is, however, a condition for it to be in the market in search of partners. Little by little, the focus of partnerships comes to fall upon the concrete results of these actions. Institutional measures are increasingly expected of a company â&#x20AC;&#x201C; its relationship with communities through cultural, social and sports â&#x20AC;&#x201C; and the same professionalism, respect, vision and quality are required of them as with its own products and services. One more step in the direction of a strategic posture is taken when, instead of passively seeking ready-made actions in the cultural market which aggregate determined attributes to its brand, the company is protagonist to cultural initiatives in which its financial, human and material structure are placed at the service of concrete development of the milieu in which it is inserted. This is what happens when it comes to conceiving its cultural programs as a means of intervening in a particular cultural, social arena, making its investments in the area an instrument of transformation. To this end, the company makes a profound analysis of its entrepreneurial traits and puts all of its potential into expanding the reach of its actions. Instead of expressing its positioning by means of publicity messages or through the mere association of cultural actions that carry the

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attributes it seeks, the company decides to act. Through transforming cultural initiatives, it demonstrates its personality, its visions and its commitments, interfering in the existing deficit situation.

Initiatives that place culture and art in the lives of people, especially in traditionally disfavored layers of the population, promote social inclusion and reduction in the violence rates by offering job generation alternatives and income and serve as a vehicle for the practice of corporate citizenship. It is interesting to note that, most of the time, the direct beneficiaries of this type of action are not the target publics of the companyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s commercial area. The latter feel indirectly contemplated by socially responsible actions by the fact that they value initiatives of this type.

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Motivation for company actions that have in culture a vehicle to redeem citizenship in persons is its interest in interfering in unstable social situations, generated by unequal income distribution. This type of company intervention is based on the perception that the company operating in this environment has an interface with both the social and the economic aspects of the communities to which it makes its products and services available. A long-term vision conciliates social concern with the business sustainability of the company. Social improvements and actions of inclusion have positive reflexes, not only on the quality of living of the community from which company workers and customers come from. They also have to do with the insertion in the consumer market of social classes previously excluded from the economically active universe. Some companies adopt a position that goes beyond the inclusion of people in a situation of exclusion and social risk as beneficiaries of its cultural actions: strategic investments oriented towards cultural and social development of the community as a whole. In partnership with government and with the cultural milieu, the company is mobilized to carry out actions that incorporate cultural and artistic expression to the lives of all citizens. This vision starts from the perception of culture as food for people’s emotions and spirits, as a fundamental right as basic as eating, education, health and housing. The right to express one’s visions of the world by means of art and having access to the artistic expressions and visions of others comes to be seen as a factor not only of justice, but also of social transformation. This posture can be understood as corporate cultural policy committed to concrete

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solutions, such as promotion of “cultural inclusion” by means of actions to form new audiences, qualification of artists and training of managers by means of courses and workshops, making actions feasible that have art as a vehicle of social inclusion through artistic-social projects – and that conciliates institutional company interests to the expression of social responsibility. As stated previously, corporate cultural investments were always seen as a means of companies getting closer to their consumers, whether by exposing their brand or by qualification of the latter from the association of certain attributes of the cultural events. The subjacent motivations to the realization of cultural actions that are heavily committed with social issues, however, are more related to the attention the company pays to other publics connected to the operation. Besides the population itself, entities connected to non profit entities, communications media and shareholders come to be seen as stakeholders in the cultural actions of the company. Regardless of its area of business, the company is a structure around which a universe of people and interest groups gravitates, making its products and services available to a certain geographic area to which it relates in an organized manner. The company also has a team of qualified employees and effective management tools. The multiplying effect the company possesses makes it a truly transformational partner, especially in actions directed to communities served by its commercial area. It is up to the parties involved to find ways to explore the talents of each partner.

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Reasoning that a company comes to invest in culture as a consequence, among other factors, of the profile development of the modern consumer, and this consumer increasingly demands a strategic and useful action, it desires to make correct, relevant programs. The good actions, those valued by professionals in the cultural area, by public opinion and by the consumer market inspire actions of their companies, mainly direct competition and company acting in the same geographic area. In this respect, it is fundamental that good actions be stimulated, appreciated and multiplied. Moreover, it is exactly this that should be perceived by managers of resources made available by the laws. The development of this model is connected to the adoption of best practices – those that make the company get involved with cultural activities that represent effective development in this area. In view of the enormous needs of the cultural milieu, two decisions must be made: cause the elements that conduct this development to become the rule for all projects interested in the benefits of the law and impede the realization of projects and partnerships lacking merit in the eyes of the cultural market and society as a whole. It has not been affirmed here that all corporate cultural actions are committed in principle to concrete results in the cultural area strictly with the public’s interest in mind. On the contrary, only a small portion of the companies have found a way to invest their money in

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which they conciliate benefits to the cultural area with advantages to its own business. What is defended in these pages is that it is not correct to presume the opposite – that all corporate cultural actions, in principle, are directed exclusively towards its marketing interests. Furthermore, it is worthwhile to note that it is good and natural that sponsored cultural actions, besides contemplating “public interests”, also be “at the service of private interest”. This generates recognition for the company, which supports it and causes it to be interested in amplifying its actions in this area. Otherwise, we would not be dealing with a modern relationship of partnership between companies and professionals in the cultural area. It would be the old and worn-out relationship of philanthropy doomed to be eliminated at the next cost-cutting campaign of the sponsor, since it does not create a connection with the company nor with the community. That is the opposite of what happens in the sponsorship relations at the service of constructing a corporate image. The latter are conceived utilizing the entire structure and resources of the company and are executed keeping in mind that the main parameter is their importance and relevance to people and the communities they contemplate. The evolution of involvement with cultural activities has led companies to create, besides the structures, internal procedures to manage the resources they make available. Some companies create a calendar for their cultural department throughout the year, publishing editorials, established dates to receive and analyze cultural proposals and

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“ awarding ” with sponsorship those considered to be the “best ” . Other companies choose to focus on specific cultural segments. Some opt to privilege certain esthetic trends in chosen cultural segments. Others define a type of public to be served with their actions, such as, for example, representatives of certain socioeconomic profiles or age groups. They carry out programs targeting that public exclusively. Certain companies create “intervention” strategies in the cultural market and, once they have detected the most appropriate people who contribute to the program they have idealized, execute projects with participation of artists and professional who fit the actions to be developed.

The concept of planning in company cultural activities should always keep in mind the characteristics and potential of the company itself as starting point, as well as its market strategies. This includes a thorough analysis of the business profile of the company, the legal, economic and social environment it operates in, the movements that the company and its competition signal to this market, the opinion of its present and potential customers measured through quantitative and, mainly, qualitative surveys and the demands of society as a whole. From that point, armed with a thorough vision of its strengths and weaknesses, an action profile is drawn up. It takes into account the characteristics of the cultural scenario it will act in, the gaps existing in it and the points where the cultural intervention of the company will be more relevant.

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That is, it is just as important to take a good look at the characteristics of the artistic environment in which the company will act as it is to consider the characteristics of the company’s commercial operation. It is wrong to simply consider the needs of the cultural area and carry out actions that are culturally relevant, but which are totally disconnected from the characteristics of the commercial area of the company. The same is true of looking only at the marketing needs of the company. In both cases, the partnerships tend not to endure. It is the corporate cultural manager’s responsibility to thoroughly understand the potential, the challenges and the company strategies, the characteristics of the cultural environment and the community’s demands. Based on this vision, the company will look for ideas and projects in the market that are compatible with a solution to the gaps detected. This makes cultural intervention a bridge to place the structures of the company at the service of cultural and social transformation. The best way a cultural marketing professional can approach a company is to conceive of projects committed to artistic quality and human development. This vision will make those projects essential for the segments of the community with which it interacts and, consequently, the companies committed to that community and with the exercise of its “Cultural Responsibility”. It is also essential that the producer interested in forming partnerships examine thoroughly

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the present role of the potential partner company. This includes the company’s track record in the cultural area and, in a wider sense, its institutional interventions. However, it is important to point out, on the one hand, that it is possible to perceive coherence when analyzing the individual cultural action of each sponsoring company. Observing the set represented by the cultural actions of all companies and having as a parameter the needs, gaps and opportunities of the cultural market as a whole, it is noteworthy, on the other hand, that their actions happen in a nonsynergetic manner, generating duplicity and uncoordinated actions. Many sponsoring companies maintain a quasi-competitive approach to cultural incentives, as if they disputed, not shared, the same field of action. As a consequence, corporate projects are generated with similar proposals, performed in the same areas, involving the same artists, contemplating the same publics and, many times, the same period. In such a market, the artists are left with the possibility of planning their careers in a fragmented manner, since it is like this that their careers are conducted through sponsorship of several companies. Thus, it is often impossible for the artist and the cultural producer to be clear about which are the real and possible fields of action, since these comprise several intentions composed in an isolated way with absolutely private – not collective – proposals. It is unheard of, at least in the local or national environment, that a group of companies has organized itself in a coordinated set of actions to implement a

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collective cultural policy, keeping in mind the development of the cultural market they act in as a parameter. In order for the cultural sector to evolve, the solution would be a sponsors’ union – companies with similar programs, concerned with tracing a common cultural policy, generating greater impact on the community. What would the cultural policy to be constructed by a set of Cultural Marketing actions be like from diversified companies acting in the market? Surely, such a policy would contemplate fostering, developing, maintaining and circulating cultural assets, artistic qualification measures, training of managers and stimulus for new financial sources. Regardless of the role of each company in the construction of this cultural policy, it is essential not to lose sight of the objective to be reached by all, which is the creation and perpetuation of a market in which qualified artists and cultural producers find ways of making their projects feasible and presenting their art to receptive, interested publics. In the construction of a collective cultural policy, the impact and breadth of the project developed by the individual company is not important. What is important is the coherence of each action with greater objectives based on the gaps and points to be transformed. It is up to the professionals in the cultural area to bring reflections about the reality of the cultural market into the environment of

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diversified sponsoring companies. By doing so, they will created commitment to the construction of programs that transform it. The process is already worthwhile in itself and disseminates visions about the cultural scenario of the regions the sponsoring companies operate in. This could be the beginning of a new consciousness about the role and challenges of companies acting in this market starting from an understanding of which are those fundamental points to be transformed collectively. In summary, it must be determined which cultural policy is more urgent.

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â&#x20AC;&#x153;A culturally active society also tends to be a critical society, a politically, socially and economically more developed society. In this sense, culture and art can be seen as engines of development of the country.â&#x20AC;?

From marketing to cultural development

At the beginning of 2003, we at Telemig Celular made a simples decision, however very representative from the conceptual point of view: change the name of the former “Cultural Marketing Department” of the company to the “Cultural Development Department”. This change made sense when, upon evaluating the actions of the company in this area, we perceived that what we sought to achieve with the investments and interventions was the true transformation of the cultural environment in the State of Minas Gerais and not merely an organized set of strategies with the simple objective of projecting the company brand, which was an issue occupying a good part of the thinking of so-called Cultural Marketing. From this viewpoint, in the case of Telemig Celular and of other companies in a similar situation in relation to the cultural area it is not longer appropriate (if indeed it ever was) to perform isolated actions. These actions were formatted exclusively to supply funds to those projects whose only

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commitment was to perform spot performances impacting specific publics, communications media and opinion makers, however not committed with any effective transformation of the artistic segment and the scenario in which they are inserted. In its role as an investor in cultural activities, Telemig Celular has gone through several phases similar to those of many other sponsoring companies. However, the specific experiences of the corporate projects brought concepts into the routine of all involved that extrapolated a theory then still under construction, of Cultural Marketing. Concerns so far restricted to the universe of the artists, producers and cultural managers were brought into the corporate environment and came to guide its actions in this area. Points such as the circulation of cultural production and consequent formation of new audiences, qualification of artists, training of managers, expansion of the sources of cultural financing, social development through art and the desire to develop the cultural level in the state became the conceptual basis for creating and conducting what would be understood as its cultural policy. They generated relationships and differentiated commitments among professionals involved in cultural programs.

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This corporate cultural policy placed in practice at Telemig Celular is what differentiates its set of actions. They are performed as a means of exercising, through culture, its corporate responsibility. Although its considerable brand exposure is perceived, generated by the enormous volume of actions, the transformations are real. Many are subtler, perceived only by those who take an active, direct part in the cultural activities offered, whether they be artists or audiences, whether they take part in the activities of formation and qualification. They are what really count; they are what the corporate image is associated to. Since 1999, Telemig Celular has challenged itself: create a cultural policy that reflects the posture and vision of the company as leader in the mobile telephone market in Minas Gerais. The idea expanded the vision about Cultural Marketing practiced by the company. It brought it to see the entire State of Minas Gerais as beneficiary of its cultural actions. These, in turn, as a matter of rule, should be based on their relevance and reach, making inclusion the order of the day. In the same manner that other company areas plan their investments and channel their efforts into projects whose parameters are economic feasibility studies, clear goals on populations to be contemplated and services to be made available, it is understood that the cultural area should be based on a wide-ranging planned set of actions to

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be executed, having as a reference a given reality to be transformed. The fact that customers in the interior of Minas Gerais generate a significant portion of Telemig Celularâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s income led us to decide to channel a greater percentage of funds to projects carried out in this area of the State. Parallel to this, we also decided to do something innovative, creating a cultural policy that, besides considering the physical structure and operations of the company, would contribute to the transformation of the cultural scenario in Minas Gerais. Telemig Celularâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s differentials are the quality of its signal transmission, the constant search for innovation and presence throughout the state. This allows its customers to travel throughout the state and still enjoy the companyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s services. This combination of quality, innovation and presence became the main reference point for the company in the process of conceiving its action in the cultural arena. Although abstract, the concept of quality has materialized in artistic and cultural work, mainly through coherence in the artistic proposal and esthetics brought by them and through the breadth and trajectory of the professionals involved in the programs. Groups and artists bring quality when constantly seeking excellence, developing their own artistic

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language and insisting on working with only the best and most creative professionals. These traits ensure elements of local cultural heritage, translated by the synchronized look at artistic moments in the world. We then began to seek references: groups and artists, preferably spread out over the state of Minas Gerais, who could be models to other artists in structuring their careers, whether by the traits of conception and organization of their works or by their background and career path. When looking for a cultural action program that utilizes the presence of the company in the entire State at the service of stimulating its potential, the partnership with sponsored groups valued the collective circulation of their artistic work, taking the organization model and artistic production to strategically selected cities in all regions of Minas. Taken as a whole, these partnerships and actions have made the main intent of the company clear: to extend the benefits of its investment in culture to a large parcel of the population. Company funds were partly earmarked for maintenance of the groups and partly for presentations all over the State of Minas Gerais.

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Artistic production circulation in Minas Gerais Stimulating and promoting the circulation of quality artistic production in Minas is within the context of democratizing access to the cultural assets in the State and of disseminating and multiplying the artistic models presented by the sponsored groups. In this sense and with the purpose of introducing new concepts in the cultural milieu, we also included in Telemig Celularâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s cultural programs concepts such as research, experimentation, renovation and expansion of the limits of language of certain artistic segments. Beyond the strategic objective of forming new audiences, actions like these â&#x20AC;&#x201C; that seek to draw innovative artists closer to new publics â&#x20AC;&#x201C; fulfill the noble objective of simply asserting the fundamental rights of its citizens, which is access to cultural output produced in its own land and times. Speaking of a more developed cultural market is tantamount to speaking of a society that creates, recognizes and cultivates its talents - in opposition to cultural references imposed by the communications media - through which people are exposed to their heritage and cultural identity. Once revisited by the best local artists, whose work absorbs the sources of local traditions and relocates them into the contemporary world, this heritage gives each individual the sense of belonging to collective efforts, revealing their identity and valuing their uniqueness. Perhaps this is the greatest contribution of artistic work for society: the creation of an individual and collective

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perception of differentiated traits, which makes it unique and, at the same time, rich. The circulation of cultural production in Minas Gerais, i.e., the process of taking quality artistic work to those who would normally not have access to them without the interference of the company, is perhaps the more apparent side of Telemig Celularâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s cultural actions. It is also one that set off the most transforming process: that of changing the prevailing predominant position in cultural programs and project, that the main measure of success of an action would be its potential for attracting public, one that had been taken to see in large urban centers, the main target, the ideal scenario (or less risky) for realizing actions. The partnership between Telemig Celular and groups participating in the projects (Telemig Celular Cultural Circuit and Telemig Celular Music Connection) is also inserted into a larger plan. The plan seeks to invert the previously dominant practice in the trajectory of the artistic works. When programming their route, artists most likely considered only metropolitan areas for their shows. Generally speaking, they started out in Belo Horizonte, played a season in Rio de Janeiro and SĂŁo Paulo and, depending on the artistsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; power of articulation, played other major cities and perhaps some festivals abroad. Circulating throughout the state of Minas Gerais, the place where the shows were conceived, fulfilled a long-standing desire of the groups themselves. The intention becomes one of doing the shows for persons who, in many cases, were the inspiration and reference in the creative process itself. In this sense, the idea of circulation brings

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with it the concept of inclusion. This means the inclusion of cities normally left out of the shows’ circuit, inclusion of audiences that had not previously been contemplated to receive cultural benefits, the inclusion of the artists themselves in the process of making their work accessible to the largest possible number of people and the possibility of processing transformations beyond the enrichment generated by concepts, emotions, sentiments, knowledge, esthetics and information generated by their artistic work. By circulating their actions, the artists become part of the process of “cultural inclusion”, which breaks with the idea that has ruled for centuries. It assumes that access to art and culture committed to artistic and esthetic quality is only interesting to the more privileged economic and intellectual classes, especially in the large cities. To give access to more socially diverse audiences located all over the state through free-of-charge presentations held in public squares and theaters is a process of social inclusion whose importance is above the benefits to the cultural market and encompasses notions of selfesteem and citizenship. The importance of circulation is reinforced by the ritual experienced by audiences made up of mixed social classes and age groups, who unite in moments of peace, sociability and collective emotion. By promoting circulation of artistic work in the areas of performing arts, Telemig Celular has contributed to decentralizing the execution

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of artistic projects in Minas Gerais. Up until now, the concentration of cultural producers in metropolitan Belo Horizonte restricted shows conceived and performed only in that place, leaving unmet the needs in the interior of the state. This decentralization has been achieved by creating cultural programs committed to collective objectives, calling the producers’ union to a higher cause, transforming isolated initiatives into converging actions aimed at a real market development. This is one of the greatest contributions of circulation in the process of cultural development. Through circulation of artistic work, cities perceive something beyond artistic references. Programs like the Telemig Celular Cultural Circuit and the Telemig Celular Music Connection have taken a relationship model between private company and government to cities. The model is based on federal and state cultural incentive laws, supported by municipally-based logistics. The company provides human, material and financial resources. The artists contribute with varied esthetical trends. This model unifies all of these agents in efforts to evolve in the cultural milieu and in the relationships established. These examples call attention to decision makers in the cities visited and multiply themselves. The model’s main function is just that - to replicate itself. Upon analyzing this process, in terms of cultural development, one of the most important developments in the circulation of productions committed to quality and innovation is the forming of new audiences. Audience formation in Minas Gerais is quite visible, as Telemig

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Celular’s cultural programs circulate throughout the state. Public contact in the interior of the state with shows and quality artistic work performed by the main artists from Minas Gerais brings new parameters to audiences, besides opening up a market for the specific artists. It creates a desire for equally committed quality artistic work, which raises the level of the cultural demands of these communities. Among other factors, constant efforts to create and expand the consuming public of cultural activities, especially those produced in its own local market, is fundamental for the existence of a cultural market for artists and other professionals. To form publics is a time-consuming process. Long-term actions and commitment of all who are related to the cultural market are required. Artists, cultural producers and professionals from several government areas, the sponsoring companies and, mainly, educators and the media must all be deeply committed. It is fundamental that schools include artistic encounters in their agendas, awakening in their students interest in artistic expression from the beginning and, consequently, perception and awareness of the importance of art and culture for them and for society. This process can be enhanced by the engagement of communications media, especially TV, which is present in most homes. To form publics means to include and make quality art a part of people’s live, creating habits of contact with cultural heritage and with artistic events, awakening perceptions and interests not merely restricted to “I liked it/didn’t like it” type of comments, as cultural events are usually analyzed. Quality education means placing people in contact with work committed to synthesis and evolution of artistic languages that express the characteristics and conflicts of time and space

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they are produced in. The works bring references and information that educate, sensitize people and give them emotions, make them feel a part of a society which artists are traditionally representatives and references of. If we analyze political, social and economic periods in the history of humanity, we can see that artistic movements many times anticipate and foresee eras of rupture, marked conflicts, celebration, key issues in history and the experiences of civilization. Art has the power of synthesis and allows us to view collective experience from a distance and, at the same time, to interiorize it in each individual. It gives voice to the conflicts and restlessness in each of us and, in most cases, in all of us.

The artist’s role is to promote reﬂection and, at the same time, thrill people and cause them to reﬂect, touch wounds and relieve suffering - which makes the hardness of facts become poetic or provoke by showing the cruelty hidden by the beauty perceived by common sense. 153

After all, the artist is the one that speaks of everyday issues we all have that often are not even perceived or questioned by those that live them, whether it is in the fast or slow pace of each individual’s life.

This is a basic reflection on the globalized environment that we live in, in which local cultures become the only element of differentiation of communities in the face of total standardization of consumer and living habits.

For this reason, art and artists are essential. To form a public for artistic activities is equivalent to investing in developing interest in society in reflection, emotion and collective experience. This has value, especially nowadays when art is displaced by entertainment, when communications media occupy so much of people’s leisure time with banalities, when the scenario of a globalized world makes us tend to receive artistic content made by a standardized, plastified cultural industry from a reality that is not ours, avid to provoke consumer-orientation and by the creation of “culturally digestible” products and by-products to an apathetic and unquestioning public.

Considering the objective of forming publics, value is attributed to those artists, cultural producers and sponsors who plan cultural actions in a creative manner, seeking spaces and alternative manners of forming new audiences, making their work an instrument of mobilization and cultural, social development.

A culturally active society also tends be a critical one, politically, socially and economically more developed, as well. Taken as such, culture and art may be seen as engines of development of a country. It is not by chance that dictatorships elect artists as their main targets for attack upon taking office. The strategy is to anesthetize or even lobotomize society’s mind. That is because the cultural heritage of a people is its memory. It brings along with it its beliefs, traditions, history of struggle, victories and defeats between the lines - finally, its power. It is as of this set of references, where traditions and historical registers are totaled, that a nation’s identity is formed. Strengthening it means activating society itself; weakening it, makes society vulnerable.

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The issue of formation of publics has been a common point of the cultural actions that Telemig Celular has associated itself to. Behind the company’s investment in projects like the FID - the International Dance Forum (1998, 2000, 2001 and 2002), Eletronika - the Festival for New Music Trends (1999, 2001, 2002, 2003 and 2004), the International Puppet Festival (2000, 2001, 2002, 2003 and 2004) and Art in the Bus (2001, 2002, 2003 and 2004) and at the heart of the conception of projects like Telemig Celular Cultural Circuit (1999 to 2003) and Telemig Celular Music Connection (2001 to 2004) is the issue of forming new audiences for some artistic segments with a strategy of strengthening the cultural market in Minas Gerais. Including Belo Horizonte, the state capital, as well as cities in the interior of Minas in the tour schedule of world-class and nationally known artists committed to expanding certain artistic segments’ conceptual limits has meant a leap in the local level. This is especially true for those artistic segments that are not frequently found in Minas Gerais. The process serves as a source of inspiration for artists with a similar commitment.

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Placing the public in contact with high-quality cultural activities, shows that are produced in several artistic areas and are set apart by their richness in conceptual and esthetic content is taking each audience to new artistic references. The process will bring a new outlook to each one in the audience, where he or she may evaluate cultural merits of the events. This contributes to education, development of a taste for art and awakening of personal preferences for art. This pact between artists and sponsors is of great cultural and social importance. It is a process that informs, recycles and educates not only audiences but also the representatives of the local cultural area. Support of cultural projects that foresee performing arts tend to attract the attention of sponsors more that projects whose aims are items, such as artistic qualification, maintenance of groups, conducting research or the process of assembling new artistic works. Projects of events carry specific returns to the sponsor’s brand, detailed in media plans that clearly define the amount of resources to be channeled into promotion in communication media. Events project further carry the promise of ample coverage thanks to the press staff’s work. On the other hand, projects referring to artistic qualification, research and assembly of new artistic works are gambles. The sponsoring company gives a vote of confidence to the partners (the artists) through investments that benefit the cultural sector as a whole. The return may not materialize in terms of the sponsor’s brand visibility when evaluated by the same criteria of events projects. Projects like this, however, signify a difference when referring to the

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evolutionary process in the cultural milieu, because they provide qualitative development of the artists and knowledge of the area on the whole. From the standpoint of the sponsored artists, investments in projects for qualification and maintenance mean a pause in the hectic rhythm of trying to survive as an artist only with ticket revenue or with the sale of the shows that have been set up. Projects like this provide opportunities to dedicate themselves to study, reflection, research and development of new work. This can permit an evolutionary leap, a definitive one, of a group on its way to developing or even consolidating its own language. It could mean filling in what was lacking for a group or person to become outstanding in the artistic world, enriching the local scene and influencing other artists. By investing in an artistic group’s maintenance and in projects whose nature is reflection, formation and artistic qualification, such as the World Theater Arts Encounter - ECUM (1998, 2002, 2002) and including artistic workshops in the sponsored projects as a rule to receive the company’s investments, Telemig Celular has stimulated knowledge sharing as a way of contributing to raising the level of artistic and cultural production over the entire state. Investing in qualifying cultural producers and professionals that promote interface with artists and their publics is as important as investing in artistic qualification itself. Their professional development contributes to enhance the potential they have to transform the operating environment of the cultural scenario. It improves the level and sharing of concepts among cultural managers; it increases awareness and development of perceptions about key points in cultural activity; it aids in defining the role of area professionals.

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More than 350 students took part in the Cultural Development and Management Course, over a five-month period offered as part of the programming of the Telemig Celular Cultural Circuit in 2003. Without knowing it, they took part in a unique moment in the relationship between a private company and the cultural area in Minas Gerais. They were chosen out of 1,200 candidates from several cities in Minas including Belo Horizonte, Montes Claros, Governador Valadares, Divinópolis, Poços de Caldas and Juiz de Fora (the course was held in each of the cities and consisted of 132 class hours divided into 11 modules.) These cultural managers began a process of formation of a network in the bi-monthly encounters over a five-month period. The network means more than just an exchange of experiences, references and establishment of new relationships among professional in the cultural area all over the state. It means the concrete possibility of going to a new level in this area in Minas Gerais. The Cultural Development and Management Course provides a new way of looking at things, a new business motivation for carrying out strategies and cultural actions. It goes beyond the realization of events. The 2003 edition of Telemig Celular Cultural Circuit has contributed concretely toward the process of professionalizing the cultural area, thus deepening the efforts previously undertaken with the inclusion of workshops and activities for artist formation and qualification. This process has gained importance, mainly when we consider that the greatest challenge that artists, cultural market professionals and sponsoring companies in Minas Gerais face today is the creation of an exchange network for information about the cultural market, making the needed knowledge

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accessible and shared among decision makers. Information sharing on the characteristics, gaps and potential in the artistic market, on market artists and professionals, on existing resources and how to access them and on work opportunities for artists around the state should be investigated urgently. It is fundamental to promote the exchange of knowledge that drives the connection among those who produce in this market, those who have the means to facilitate access to the production and those who effectively can put it to use. After all, we are basically speaking of the formation of cultural market intelligence, similar to that existing in other areas. This could create new work opportunities, more resources generated and, as a result, a culturally richer society. Likewise, work whose objective is to study a given scenario, that seeks elements for reflection and correction of its course can only be done by the committed visions of cultural producers, artists, public administrators and sponsors to the development of the sector, and not just by sporadic acts. This is the case of projects such as “Giving due account to Minas Gerais - an Evaluation of the Impacts of the State Cultural Incentive Law”, conducted by the Fundação João Pinheiro in 2002 and 2003 sponsored by Telemig Celular. The first-time project analyzes the relationship among professionals in the cultural area, government, sponsoring companies and society established by the mechanism of fiscal quitclaim by the State Cultural Incentive Law.

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Artistic-Social Projects The transforming power of culture has become perceivable in projects that use art as a vehicle for social inclusion and to reclaim citizenship. Their results are artistic but their motivations are socially oriented. Since 1999 we have adopted systematic investment in projects of this type as one of the pillars of cultural policy at Telemig Celular. The projects have art as an immediate, visible reference but also have socially-oriented objectives as a backdrop. In other words, works conceived based on artistic quality and commitment also contribute to citizenship formation, especially for children and adolescents, many of whom are impoverished, excluded and at social risk. Getting people together whose common denominator is a specific and, oftentimes, very hard reality of life to work in favor of art is a process that contributes to raise the self-esteem of each individual and creates a collective ritual. This frequently transforms the vision of all involved in the process and opens up paths that wind up allowing those “new artists” to overcome daily difficulties and limits imposed upon them. This transforming chemistry is due to the very nature of artistic work that depends on awakening individual talents of those involved and mainly on the interaction of those on their way to the common objective of creating a work of art. The resulting artistic work reaches beyond the individually perceived senses and even those of the entire mobilized group. The contact with the

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public gives each one and the set of participants as a whole an importance in the face of collectivity, many times never before experienced by the individuals included in the action. Constructing artistic work is a process that goes beyond the mere preparation of individual talents. It promotes the collective immersion of the participants in a universe of artistic and intellectual productions, like literary works, musical compositions and historical and contemporary information necessary for the construction of the roles and participation in the cultural production. The process leads many of the social-cultural project’s participants to move all at once from the cultural to the educational and social spheres, which had been so distant up until then in their lives. By investing in artistic-social projects, which is how we have named this type of initiative at Telemig Celular, the company is placing its resources at the service of a multiplicity of cultural and social actions. It is investing in the work of artists and professionals that conduct these works and who also have developed their potential in the meeting of artistic concepts with individuals whose experiences and perceptions are so different from their own. Generally, these meetings result in influences that are incorporated by the artists and other professionals into their careers. It is not rare that they are enriched and even completely changed over by the experiences with artistic-social works. The company that invests in this type of project is also investing in the individual development of the “new artists”. These people many times find in art their only path, amidst a background of exclusion and total lack of professional, economic and social outlook.

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By associating itself to artistic-social projects, the company makes a three-fold investment in the community: it leads some of its citizens on the road to art and socialization; it contributes to the discovery and development of a new artistic path for the artists executing these works; and, at the same time, it makes the construction of artistic works of great value which have after all the objective of moving, entertaining and educating the community itself. One can perceive the growth in the appreciation of artistic works that include social commitment among its motivation. In many cases, this inclusion becomes a requisite imposed by public or private financing sources . With support from some and questioning from others, the fact is that investments in artistic-social projects have divided opinions in cultural circles. One the one hand, there are those who think that art is art, period. From this standpoint, it is not up to the artist to take on relevant social demands, in addition to performing his art as well as possible. On the other hand, some understand that the artistâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s role is to be in the forefront of important social issues for the members of the communities they perform in. If a social movement involving society as a whole becomes urgent in view of the enormous social and economic problems experienced by all, it would then be up to the artists to head this movement.

More than just maintenance or help in the cultural area, today we are talking of investments in professional qualification and incentives to an area that promotes individual and collective transformations, which generates jobs and turns the economy. More than the duties of governments and companies, we are speaking of guaranteeing the right of each citizenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s access to material and intangible wealth in its own time and space. More than investing in culture as a way of taking advantage of fiscal benefits and doing good business, we are speaking of betting on human inclusion as a factor of improving the social and economic fabric of society. More than brand exposure, we are talking about qualification of these brands from their point of insertion in communities. More than marketing, cultural development.

Whatever the case, the fact is that the evolution of the relationships in the cultural milieu / government / private enterprise / society brings significant changes to the cultural area. In the present scenario, cultural initiatives come to naturally incorporate elements that place culture increasingly at the center of discussions, resuming its proper place in society.

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The author

Marcos Barreto Corrêa has worked in several areas of the cultural market over the last 15 years. He graduated in advertising (UFMG) and specialized in marketing (UFMG) and telecommunications (IBMEC) and is a Master of Science in Arts Administration (Boston University, USA). Before becoming the Cultural Development Manager at Telemig Celular, he acted as Cultural Programmer at a public federal institution (Centro Cultural UFMG), executive producer of theatrical and musical shows, press staff for artistic events and as a musician. As a Fulbright scholar (USA), Capes and Vitae (Brazil) scholar, he had professional experiences in American institutions, including the Boston Symphony Orchestra (1998). He was a pioneer in the use of the Municipal Cultural Incentive Law in Belo Horizonte (1996). At Telemig Celular, he conceived projects such as the Telemig Celular Multimedia Manual (1997), Telemig Celular Cultural Circuit (1999), Telemig Celular Music Connection (2001) and the show “Being So Minas Gerais” (2002). He has also been director of the Telemig Celular Institute since its creation (2000). In the last few years, he has presented, nationally and internationally, his professional experience and reflections in lectures, courses and encounters.

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