Cultural innovators from Paraná present their projects and businesses at the Market of Creative Industries in Belém do Pará.

Source: Government of the State of Paraná

Cultural innovators from Paraná are participating in the Market of Creative Industries (MICBR) taking place in Belém, Pará, from November 8 to 12. The event will bring together cultural entrepreneurs from various sectors in business rounds, lectures, presentations, and workshops, with free and open programming for the public.

Promoted by the Ministry of Culture (MinC) and the Organization of Ibero-American States (OEI), MICBR will feature a program that includes 15 creative sectors, including Technical Arts, Crafts, Visual Arts, Audiovisual & Animation, Circus, Dance, Design, Editorial, Gastronomy, Hip Hop, Electronic Games, Music, Fashion, Museums & Heritage, and Theater.

Out of the 906 applicants from across Brazil, the Ministry of Culture’s call selected 260 participants from 102 cities in the country. Of this total, 20 represent Paraná, either as buyers or sellers of projects in the event’s business rounds. In addition to Brazilian participants, the third edition of MICBR also brings Argentina as the guest of honor.

For the State Secretary of Culture, Luciana Casagrande Pereira, “events like this are essential to disseminate the potential of the Paraná creative economy to Brazil and the world, attract investors to the State’s cultural projects and initiatives, and showcase the best of what is being done here.”

PARANÁ AND THE CREATIVE ECONOMY – In Brazil, the creative economy accounts for 3.11% of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and employs about 7.5 million people in over 130,000 formalized companies. The 20 representatives from Paraná participating in the event are from different cultural sectors and are mostly sellers of ideas and projects.

Cultural innovator Danilo Sande represents Exatamente Soluções Educacionais, one of the sellers from Paraná. The company, based in Guarapuava, develops games that help students learn. One of these products is the Nivelamento Online, an educational platform focused on online games with customizable questions and answers. According to Danilo, the goal of bringing this product to the event is its commercialization in educational institutions.

Two other projects will be presented in business rounds. One of them is the Nio Card Game – a card game with knowledge questions, and the Nio RPG, a mobile electronic game. “We hope for the opportunity to effectively commercialize with educational institutions, seek partnerships to develop cards on a large scale, and also co-produce and provide visibility for Nio RPG,” projected Danilo Sande.

Present since the first edition of MICBR, the audiovisual and animation sector maintained the second position among the segments with the highest economic growth in the creative sector in 2019, with a growth rate of 3.1%, according to the most recent data from the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE).

Thais Peixe, the producer from Miralumo Films, will attend the event as a seller in the audiovisual sector. The studio, located in Curitiba, specializes in the production of original animated films and advertising. Thais explained that participation in this event is important to seek partners for co-production and distribution. She also highlighted the diversity of creative economy sectors present at the event.

“I know that MICBR has artists from all areas. So it’s not just cinema but also theater, design, dance… and that enriches a lot, being able to have direct contact with other areas. It strengthens creative culture in Brazil,” emphasized Thais.

In the same field of image and sound, Olhar is an audiovisual content distributor that has released over 30 films in the Brazilian market, covering various genres and profiles. The co-founder and general director of the company, Paula Gomes, will attend the event as a buyer, focusing on LGBTQIAPN+ long films, coming-of-age genres, and titles with a political-social emphasis.

The director explains that when distributing a film, Olhar conducts the advertising campaign for the work, and therefore, they seek partnerships with production companies in the initial phase of a project. “This way, we can contribute from the development stage, thinking about the audience and how to engage with it, and also how to assist the production company in the financing strategies of the work,” explained Paula.

Also in the buyer’s position, the director of the Curitiba Theater Festival, Fabíula Passini, explained that in theater, they work with as many languages as possible, such as improvisation, music, dance, and gastronomy. According to the manager, the format of the market promoted in Belém differs from others due to the variety of business axes and cultural exchange.

“It’s important to get to know other works beyond those produced here, perhaps bring some attraction that will be known from MICBR, and also for the culture of Paraná to be known throughout Brazil and in Argentina, as they are the guest country of MICBR,” said Fabíula.

Still in the field of presentations, the Telúrica Festival – Festival Made by Clowns, is conceived by eight women and will participate in business rounds in the circus category and in the seller’s position. The festival emerged with the intention of strengthening clown art done by women and seeking female protagonism from behind the scenes to the stage.

Yara Rossato, co-creator of the venture, intends to prospect new editions and replicate the festival model in other locations. “We want to move towards our third in-person edition [of the festival] next year. We are registered in various calls, but our presence at MICBR should strengthen this. We also hope that partnerships will be possible.”