The Cultura Inglesa Festival has been offering an innovative and exciting artistic and educational programme to the general public every year for the last 26 years, free of charge. As well as a broad range of Brazilian and international arts events in theatre, music, dance, poetry, the visual arts, literature and other areas of the arts, for 16 years the festival ran an open competition for new work by Brazilian artists which resulted in more than 150 new works which were produced and shown at the festival, many of which went on to win awards and were shown all over Brazil. The festival has continued to attract a large audience over the years, with a record of 20,000 people attending one edition. The festival has recently included an online programme, which attracted more than 70,000 views in 2023.
Amongst the many important international musicians who have performed at the festival are Franz Ferdinand, Lilly Allen, Jesus and Mary Chain, as well as Brazilian artists such as Iza and Duda Beat. More recently, the festival has hosted shows by Caetano Veloso, Luedji Luna and Anelis Assumpção. The festival’s dynamic performing arts programme has included new works by Sidney Santiago Kuanza, Silvana Garcia, Cristian Duarte, Ester Laccava and Cristiane Paoli Quito. The festival has also commissioned short films from up-and-coming Brazilian filmmakers, including a work by Esmir Filho, which went on to win an award at the Cannes Festival after its premier at the Cultura Inglesa Festival.
The Cultura Inglesa Festival is now a fixture in the Brazilian cultural scene and is recognised by both the public and artists alike for its artistic quality, promotion of Brazilian creativity and innovation, and for being entirely free of charge. This is reflected in the many institutional partnerships the festival has made over the years, as well as its innovative and socially responsible curatorial approach. Amongst the important partners who have embraced the festival over the last few years are SESC SP, Cinemateca Brasileira, Fundação Padre Anchieta, Museu da Casa Brasileira, Centro Cultural São Paulo, Orquestra Sinfônica Brasileira and many more. To these must be added important partners in the United Kingdom, including The Royal Institution of Great Britain, the British Council, Arts Council England, Creative Scotland and other official and independent organisations.
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