On Tuesday, February 7th, CEBRI promoted the launch of a policy paper of the Culture and International Relations Thematic Program, "Soft Power and National Identity: The role of culture in Brazil's international insertion". With the objective of presenting challenges and gathering recommendations for the strengthening of Brazilian cultural diplomacy, the document was produced by Ambassador Marcos Azambuja, CEBRI's Trustee Emeritus, and Evangelina Seiler, CEBRI's Senior Fellow, curator and art consultant.

At the launch, the Ambassador highlighted efforts to articulate the themes of culture and international relations, which CEBRI is dedicated to exploring. According to Azambuja, the ideal point of convergence was found in the idea of soft power, conceived by Joseph Nye, which attests to a country's power of influence and, in this sense, the policy paper brings an important contribution to reflections on "the presence of Brazil before the world and the understanding of Brazil within". 

Evangelina, in turn, highlighted, among other proposed recommendations, the incentive for Brazilian dialogue with national and international agencies for cultural promotion, such as the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), as well as the construction of a policy for the diversification of resources in the sector.

This idea was echoed by Paulo Vieira, Executive Director of MAM, who introduced a debate on the creation and management of endowments, investment funds that can be applied in the maintenance of cultural institutions or project development. In Vieira's evaluation, "the endowment enables the raising of resources beyond the pressure of annual budgets [...] and provides the freedom and cultural autonomy of an equipment that begins to have people betting on its long term".

Regarding investments in the sector, Sebastião Salgado, Member of CEBRI’s International Advisory Board and photographer, spoke in favor of the direct effort of the Brazilian state apparatus in the international projection of its culture, stating that "culture is as important as exports". In this sense, artist Vik Muniz identified the need not only to inject capital into cultural activities, which lack recognition for their great economic potential, but also for the government to "make room for them and take pride in culture".

Read the policy paper in full and check out the recommendations of CEBRI's specialists for greater Brazilian cultural projection in the international arena HERE.