Culturart Brazil celebrates 2 years!!! The Essential Brazilian Guide in the UK

29 Oct, 2014

Culturart Brazil celebrates this month in October its 2-year anniversary, establishing itself as an important tool for promotion of Brazilian culture, art and events in the UK. The creativity and innovation of this project, along with the serious and consistent work of its team made possible that a little idea became a successful business.

As a result of these 2 years of work, the publication is nowadays reckognised both within and outside the Brazilian community and is present in several distribution spots, as the Embassy, the Consulate, associations and several Brazilian commercial points, restaurants and bars. It also reaches British and Latin spots, where people interested in Brazilian culture circulate, such as Canning House, Kingai??i??s College and Birkbeck University.

Despite the growth achieved throughout these 2 years, Culturartai??i??s director, Shirley Nunes insists in stressing the ideology of the project will stay alive and there is a lot of work to be done.

ai???We completed 2 years now with a much more professional work than before, but not losing sight of our main focus of supporting independent artists, producers or cultural activists, and above all, connect people who love our culture.ai???

Ai??The Start

The idea behind Culturart started in a very modest way, following Shirley Nunesai??i?? dream of seeing information about Brazil reunited in one unique place. ai???I noticed there was a lot of information spread out, and working as a columnist and singer, many people approached me asking for tips and information about Brazilian ai???thingsai??i??, such as ai???where can I eat bobA? de camarA?o?ai???, ai???where can I dance Forro?ai???, ai???what is the best place to study Portuguese?ai???. This is how she noticed many of her writings to her column that afterwards were uploaded in her personal blog could be better utilized.

The blog became then Culturart Brazil. “I already attended many cultural events while writing my column about tips in English, which then became Whatai??i??s On, but it was when I left the newspaper that I decided to put in practise my idea of a Brazilian Events Guide. It was so latent that the following 15 days after my leave from the newspaper were enough to produce the first edition of the guide and have the blog changed to websiteai???, she laughs.

The guide was out on 04th October 2012, same day that the websiteAi?? was launched. Despite the consistency of the project and Shirleyai??i??s determination, there obviously several difficulties in that first year of Culturart: ai???I had a team of 3 collaborators and 5 partnerships, and a lot to do in the beggining. Many of them contributed because of their appreciation of the project. In less than 6 months we had 8 people collaborating monthly and 20 partnerships, and now we have 5 profissionals in media area, and 5Ai??collaboratorsAi??and 40 partnershipsai???, says Shirley.

During these 2 years, significant people passed by Culturart, as editors Marina Bertoncello and Carolina Beal, columnists Fernanda Franco, Patricia Klingl, Manoela Afonso and even artists like Kaw Regis and Marcia Mar.

The project also took part in the interview with Brazilian Minister of Culture Marta Suplicy, joining the I Meeting of Brazilian Women in the World, covered Marisa Monteai??i??s gig and protested along with Brazilians in London last year, interview with Marta Fernandes from AMBE ( Supporting Brazilian Women Abroad) at Million Women RiseAi??in London, informed aboutAi??The Brazilian Citizenship Council in the UKAi??since the begging,Ai??covered the opening SebastiA?o Salgado’s exhibition night at Natural History Museum, participated at event Family On Ice, free Ice Skating to the community at Alexandra Palace in London,Ai??and Ai??organized the screening of ‘Pride of being Brazilian – Orgulho de ser Brasileiro’, a filmAi??produced by Brazilian journalist, Adalberto Piotto at King’s College, London and much more.

Os projetos que apoiamos no comeAi??o, permanecem conosco, e hoje temos outrosAi?? com apoio mA?tuo. NA?s criamos Culturart para fazer a divulgaAi??A?o deles gratuitamente, por serem trabalhos em sua maioria sem fins lucrativos e totalmente pro comunidade, e permanecerA? gratuito. Um grande agradecimento as Ai??parcerias: Kingai??i??s Brazil Insitute, Consulado Brasileiro, Vbratar, Abrir.org.uk, Verbo Magazine, Stone Scrabs Teatre, Maracatu MafuA?, Nu tempo Dance, Circular Project, To em Londres, Gandaia, Taru Project, Nossa Voz, Clube dos Brasileirinhos, Escolinha do Brasil eAi?? Centro Cultural, Grupo AxAi?? Capoeira, Grupo Muzenza, Arvore Fraterna, ABCT Trust, Happy Child, AMBE, Choro in Roda, Clubinho Verde e Amarelo, J.N.Paquet, InfA?ncia MissionA?ria de Jesus, Forro Family and Forro London e algumas medias que oferecemos conteA?do quando pedido: Brazilian News, Yellow Magazine e Verde-Amarelas.

These were 2 plentiful and rewarding years. However, the initial plan of establishing Culturart Brazil as a ai???non-profit cultural projectai??? did not meet financial backing and Culturart started to designed as social enterprise in the Media Creative Industries field, to survive until 2014.

The year of 2014 and the new perspectives for the business

After 2 years of hardwork, Culturart Brazil has been gradually more dedicated to monetization and, in an inovative way, helped to highlight companies that offer the best of Brazilian goods and services in the UK, especially in London.

Amongst its clients are references in the Brazilian community, such as Casa Brasil, grocery shop opened for 25 years providing goods and products to Brazilians in London; Pack and Go, responsible for offering transportation of belongings to the Brazilian community for 21 years. In the hospitality field, Made in Brazil and Barraco Cafe Restaurant , both dedicate to live music along with typical food from the country.

Besides them, there are also clients that have joined Culturart more recently, such as Rock Lounge, a Brazilian coffee shop in Kilburn offering juices, cocktails and sweets, and Ipanema Cosmetics, the only company selling products of Brazilian cosmetic-giant Natura; and BBA (Brazilian Beauty Academy), offering products like Amazonia Vita and Vita Derm, services and workshops for beauticians.

But it was not only new clients the organisation attracted in 2014. Culturart has currently gone beyond Londonai??i??s borders and is gradually reaching readers outside the city, as well as many companies that have been in touch requesting Shirleyai??i??s consultancy on the Brazilian market.

ai???When Culturart started I did not expect it would be so welcomed. But after years working for media companies and managing Culturart, I could see how much potential this market has to offerai???.

Therefore, nowadays Shirley Nunes has been providing consultancy to companies and producers who need contacts, or offering advise in the work developed to reach the Brazilian market or to expand in the British market. In 2014, Culturart Brazil Media was born, offering guidance to companies on where and to disclose their work, to enter or consolidate in the Brazilian market or to insert a Brazilian good in the British-European market.

ai???This is our project from now on, expanding our services, offering opportunity to companies who wish to reach the public with interest in Brazil in the UK and also continue doing what we have always done, disclosing the Brazilian culture, give visibility and support to so many Brazilians producing such interesting things with so scarce resources.ai??? We welcome 2015!

Check it out!

Website:Ai??http://culturartbrazil.com

Like us atAi??www.facebook.co.uk/culturartbrazil

You tube Channel, click here.

Brazilian Events Guide in November 2014, click here to download it.

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