Identificação e Fortalecimento de Arranjos Produtivos Locais Intensivos em Cultura [Identification and Strengthening of Local Intensive Productive Arrangements in Culture]
The Local Productive Arrangements in culture are the result of a decentralized public policy of economic development that was made official by the Federal Government of Brazil in 2004, and contributes to encourage competitiveness and the economic insertion of micro and small businesses in the culture field, with strong local and regional territorial expression. From this definition, it is possible to consider that there is a wide range of potential arrangements scattered throughout the country that are yet to become known, whether in the field of scientific investigation or politics.
The measure of Identification and Strengthening of Local Intensive Productive Arrangements in Culture was, then, conceived to encourage local processes of socioeconomic development by means of the promotion of sustainability and the productive collaboration between territorially identified micro and small cultural enterprises, ultimately contributing for the expansion of the reach of the policy.
The scope of the measure is national and it was implemented by the Ministry of Culture and the Ministry of Development, Industry and Foreign Trade, which, in 2013, have issued a public notice in partnership. At the occasion, 27 local intensive production arrangements in culture were selected, in 20 (out of 27) Brazilian federative units. Those arrangements were divided into five creative sectors, encompassing: performing arts, crafts, fashion and apparel, cultural tourism and audiovisual, design and games.
Other three projects were developed in 2015, including: i) Support to the setup of local productive arrangements in Indigenous Territories in Mato Grosso, encompassing local creative and solidary circuits; ii) Support to the Project Traditional Quilombola-Based Communities in the Cerrado region of the State of Goiás (creation and audiovisual production); iii) Support to the Project Prospection and Training in Creative Territories (Quissamã, Madureira and Paraty, in the State of Rio de Janeiro, and Cariri, in the State of Ceará).
Some of the expected results are: (i) the promotion of productive inclusion of economic agents; (ii) the improvement of the process of management of the wealth generated from symbolic reppertoires elaborated by the very communities that produce those assets; (iii) reduction of regional social and economic asymmetries among the country’s territories; and (iv) the ensured sustainability of the symbolic creations and productions by local communities.
The agencies in charge of the development of this measure are the Brazilian Ministry of Culture and the Ministry of Development, Industry and Foreign Trade, partnered with the Federal University of Mato Grosso (UFMT), the Federal Institute of Goiás (IFG) and the Federal Fluminense University (UFF). Within the Ministry of Culture, the responsibility for the project lies with the Secretariat of Cultural Policies.
The Brazilian government keeps a Permanent Work Group for Local Productive Arrangements, gathering 12 ministries and other 23 institutions, some of which with participation in the civil society. As such, the discussion, elaboration and implementation of policies integrated to this agenda counts with the input of, for instance, the National Institute of Colonization and Agrarian Reform; Banco do Brasil; Caixa Econômica Federal; Banco da Amazônia; the Institute of Applied Economic Research; the National Board of Scientific and Technological Development; and the National Industry Confederation, among others.
Resources allocated for the implementation of this measure add up to 902,209.07 USD, out of which 612,053.66 USD were allocated in 2015.
The measure is currently being evaluated on national level in cooperation among the responsible ministries and the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul.
Generally speaking, we must stress the need to move further in the induction of integrated policies, strengthening the governance structures and promoting investment on innovation of the production processes operated by the APLs.