Brazil’s president-elect, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, has invited – but not formally appointed – a new culture minister, the first the country has had in four years. The singer Margareth Menezes is set to reopen the Ministry of Culture offices, which have been closed since the first day of Jair Bolsonaro’s far-right presidency in 2019.
Menezes, who is from the north-eastern state of Bahia, is a renowned axé star, a style of Afrobrazilian music, with eight albums to her name since 1988. In 2010 she collaborated with Gilberto Gil, the singer who served as Minister of Culture during a previous Lula government from 2003 to 2008.
Bolsonaro’s election campaign in 2019 was typified by a string of attacks on the culture sector. While his quest for reelection redirected fire to areas including environmentalists and the science establishment, his firebrand attitude towards the arts remained, dismissing one protest letter demanding respect for democracy as a ‘movement of a few artists who no longer receive the Rouanet Law’ – a reference to the federal funding scheme, cut significantly in the last four years.
The law offers tax breaks for private arts funding, but under Bolsonaro the maximum value was cut by half to 50,000 reais (£7,685).
In March 2021, Bolsonaro, who repeatedly dismissed the seriousness of the COVID-19 pandemic that has to-date killed 691,000 Brazilians, paused federal cultural funding to any areas with lockdown restrictions in place.
The return of the Ministry of Culture, as well as the creation of a series of local committees that would decide where to direct state arts support, was a key facet to Lula’s election success. The incoming president, who has served two terms previously, before being jailed on corruption charges – charges were later overturned – won 50.9 per cent of the vote in October’s runoff. He will be sworn in 1 January.
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