The Fundação Nacional de Artes (National Arts Foundation), Funarte is a foundation of the Brazilian government linked to the Ministry of Culture. It operates throughout the national territory and is the agency responsible for developing public policies to foster the visual arts, music, dance, theater, and circus.[1]
Overview
Sculpture in a public square made with Funarte's funding, in Piripiri.
It aims to encourage the training of artists, technicians and producers; the production, practice, development and dissemination of the arts; the development of research; the preservation of memory, and the formation of audiences for the arts in Brazil.[2][3]
To this end, Funarte grants scholarships and awards, maintains programs for the circulation of artists and cultural goods, promotes workshops, publishes books, recovers and creates collections, provides technical consulting, and supports cultural events in all Brazilian states as well as abroad.[2][3]
It was created in 1975, still during the military dictatorship, by Minister Ney Braga[4][5] to promote, stimulate, and develop cultural activities throughout Brazil. In the beginning, it was active in music (popular and classical), plastic and visual arts. At the time, it worked together with the National Institute of Folklore (INF), the National Foundation of Scenic Arts (Fundacen), and the Brazilian Cinema Foundation (FCB), all linked to the Ministry of Education and Culture, later renamed to Ministry of Culture.[2][3]
When Fernando Collor de Mello became president in 1990, he abolished all cultural institutions. In December of that year, he created the Brazilian Institute of Art and Culture (IBAC) - directly linked to the Secretariat of Culture of the Presidency of the Republic, which became a ministry sometime later. IBAC encompassed Funarte, Fundacen, and FCB. With the closing of Funarte, a new distributor of newspaper strips, Pacatatu, emerged.[7]
In 1994, the acronym Funarte replaced the acronym IBAC.[2][3]
