BNDES announces partnerships and reopening of Espaço da Cultura, in Rio

The president of the National Bank for Economic and Social Development (BNDES), Aloizio Mercadante, and the mayor of Rio de Janeiro, Eduardo Paes, announced this Monday (22) the reopening of the BNDES Cultural Space, in downtown Rio de Janeiro , after three years in which the venue had no performances. Mercadante highlighted that it is the beginning of a series of important partnerships between the bank and the Rio de Janeiro City Hall. According to him, after June 20, when the BNDES turns 71, every Thursday and Friday, free music at the BNDES will be back. On Thursdays there will be shows of Brazilian popular music and on Fridays of instrumental or classical music. The president of the BNDES also informed that the bank is issuing a BRL 6 million notice to guarantee the schedule for the 2023/2025 season. “We hired five curatorial teams to make the selections and we are going to make room for young talents, for those developing their careers and for stars and already renowned professionals. We will already have two years of guaranteed music, which is a way for us to revitalize the center and, together with the city hall, fill this architectural space that is so important for the city and cannot be emptied”, he said. Mercadante also announced that the wall around the BNDES will receive a popular art panel. “We are already hiring a graffiti that will be motivated by the theme of development, which is a bit the role of the BNDES in these 71 years. We also want to open on the bank’s birthday,” he revealed. For the mayor of Rio, the return of the Espaço Cultura operation is super news about a tradition of the bank that had been interrupted. “It is very important for the city center. The BNDES and Petrobras, state bodies, companies or institutions like the BNDES that play an extremely important role in the city center, therefore, it is the first concrete act that we see of a public body, at the federal level, taking this decision, being concerned with the wall, doing graffiti. I think this is what will rescue the center of Rio de Janeiro”, said Paes. Valongo The announcements of partnerships with the City of Rio de Janeiro will continue this Tuesday (23) with an event to empower the black population, especially in companies. According to the president of BNDES, the Brazilian State has already implemented a series of affirmative policies, including the quota law, adopted when he was Minister of Education, which changed the history of Brazilian universities. “Now we want to take this discussion to companies, in purchasing policy, incentives for black entrepreneurs and we are bringing the experience of South Africa, the person responsible in South Africa for this policy, which is already 30 years old. There are eight stages in which the presence of black men and women in the structure of companies is evaluated and it is a policy that we have to reflect on here ”, he said. “Tomorrow [terça-feira] we are also going to make some important announcements, especially regarding the [Cais do] Valongo. Let’s open a new background. On the initiative of the BNDES, we are going to look for partners to strengthen and promote Little Africa [como é conhecida a região próxima ao Valongo] to make there a territory of culture. I think that that is the pre-salt layer of black history and culture in Brazil. It is a very strong and very beautiful thing”, said Mercadante. “We are going to start the process tomorrow[Tuesday]and it will end with a museum that will be built. We are going to restore the historic building and help create another cultural center that can be an international reference, ”he said. “Having a public notice from the BNDES enabling resources so that we have that enormous capacity for cultural production in Largo da Prainha, in Pedra do Sal, in Morro da Providência, which is the first Brazilian favela. The origin of the name favela is right there in Morro da Providência, there is no doubt that it will represent a great advance for this central region of the city”, said Paes. Racism The president of the BNDES also added that this Tuesday will also be a day of solidarity and redress of racism in Spain for the player Vini Jr, of Real Madrid. “We cannot accept what happened. We cannot remain silent in the face of this type of aggression. Racism never again on the football field and in society. We need to rescue and value the culture of black men and women in the construction of history, and in Brazil we are very proud of the participation of this diversity”, he said, noting that this Tuesday there will be important announcements always in partnership with Mayor Eduardo Paes. Mobility One of the BNDES’ partnerships with the City of Rio de Janeiro is in the area of ​​mobility in order to improve the quality of life of the Rio de Janeiro population, especially in the poorest areas. The financing of the mobility plan for Campo Grande, whose work on the new ring road has already begun, is in the final stage of understanding between the bank and the municipal government. According to the city hall, the project, with an estimated investment of around R$ 1 billion, includes a new pier, a tunnel, expressways and bike paths with the capacity to significantly improve traffic in the largest neighborhood in Rio. “It is a very important intervention,” said Mayor Eduardo Paes. Carioca Jokingly, Paes said that Rio de Janeiro has been doing well for Mercadante, who already has a relaxed air. He revealed that while he spent Sunday at home, the BNDES president was attending samba circles, in the area called Little Africa, close to Cais do Valongo. “First, it is irresistible to say how good Rio de Janeiro is doing for this guy. Look at the clothes as he is more informal, more relaxed. No longer the same Aloizio Mercadante. Warning to Brazilians: Aloísio has changed. Rio de Janeiro is giving him new energy,” he said, smiling. “It is an evolution of the human species that only Rio de Janeiro can provide. So, it is to salute this great carioca that is Aloísio”, he completed. To prove what the mayor said, excited, Mercadante informed that after the announcements tomorrow with the presence of the ministers of Racial Equality, Anielle Franco, and of Culture, Margareth Menezes, there will be a presentation of the battery of the Estação Primeira de Mangueira. Repasses Mercadante criticized the volume of resources transferred by the BNDES to the National Treasury in the last six years, which represented R$ 270 billion more than what it received. According to the president, if updated by the IPCA, the bank transferred R$ 1 trillion and 60 billion to the Treasury. “This means that the BNDES is taking money out of the economy and transferring it to the Treasury. This is not the role of a development bank. This has to be done with taxes, contributions, other measures, but a development bank has to develop society, help industry”, he said, adding that on the next 25th new measures for the sector will be announced at Fiesp headquarters. industrial.

Agência Brasil