Culture on demand: a case study on the vale-cultura policy in Brazil

This research consists of an exploratory case study of the Brazilian cultural policy named Vale-Cultura, the country’s first national program devoted to the consumers of culture. The recently implemented policy provides a card to formal workers, with a R$ 50 (approximately U$20) monthly credit to be spent exclusively on cultural products and services. The credits are accumulative and the costs are shared between the employer and the federal government. This thesis analyzed the program, headed by the Brazilian Ministry of Culture, through three spheres: the system’s operationalization, the media coverage and the user’s experience with the card. The goal was to analyze which values of the policy were underlined in each sphere. Does the policy value cultural democratization or a cultural democracy? Are the justifications based on a civilizing value or on economical developments? By using a cultural policy theoretical framework, this inquiry investigated the values supported by the Vale-Cultura and critically analyzed its consistency among the three spheres. The methods applied were: qualitative analysis of official information of the program; discourse analysis of articles published in the media and ten semi-structured interviews with users of the card in Brazil. These findings enabled me to develop critiques of the possible consequences of the policy’s implementation in the country and to suggest aspects of the program that should be monitored in the future.