Brazil and Mondiacult 2025. Challenges of Multilateralism and Cultural Cooperation
By Alexandre Santini*
Mondiacult is the global conference on cultural policies and sustainable development, promoted by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and historically recognized as the leading international forum for debate and formulation of cultural policies.
Mondiacult 2025 will be the third time it meets. The event will be in Barcelona, Spain, from September 29th to October 1st. The priority themes include issues related to public policies on culture, democracy, and multilateralism; sustainable development; biocultural diversity, artificial intelligence; and the climate emergency.
The Mondiacult 2025 agenda, therefore, proves to be as necessary as it is ambitious, considering the very challenging global scenario, marked by the crisis of democracies in several countries, the rise of extremism, and the weakening of multilateral organizations, such as the already announced withdrawal of the United States from UNESCO.
The importance of Mondiacult has historical roots: its first meeting in 1982 in Mexico is considered the foundation of a certain type of relationship between State and culture from a perspective of affirming culture as a right. From the final declaration of this conference, concepts emerge that guided debates related to the institutionality of cultural policies throughout the following decades, and to this day: the broadness of the notion of culture, the call for international cultural cooperation based on respect for cultural identity, the defense and protection of diversity based on respect for the dignity and value of each culture, the recognition of national sovereignty, and the principles of non-intervention, that is, avoiding any form of subordination, intervention, or replacement of one culture by another. The 1982 Mondiacult took place amidst the easing of authoritarian regimes that dominated the political landscape of Latin American countries in the 1960s and 1970s, as was the case in Brazil.
Brazil arrives at Mondiacult 2025 in the midst of rebuilding the Ministry of Culture and cultural policies in Brazil. Under the leadership of Minister of Culture Margareth Menezes and President Lula's administration, Brazil is resuming its leading role and encouraging multilateral organizations, cooperation initiatives, and solidarity among peoples in the fight against hunger, in the defense of peace, and in confronting the climate crisis. In a turbulent global context, Brazilian cultural diplomacy understands that cultural policies from a cross-cutting perspective and linked to sustainable development are a strategic element that can determine the future of countries, particularly those in the global South, in their sovereign insertion in the world.
Expanding the representation of cultural institutions, including civil society in the evaluation and monitoring processes of the 2030 Agenda and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), is essential to measuring, with data, indicators, and evidence, but also with social engagement and participation, the effective influence of cultural policies as state policies. A mobilized, empowered, and participatory civil society has great agency and can be a decisive ally in positioning the cultural dimension of development on the global agenda, whether through a specific SDG or by incorporating and giving greater visibility and recognition to the cultural dimension in other Sustainable Development Goals.
The emergency situation generated by the COVID-19 pandemic, in which cultural management organizations in several countries had their budget allocations increased to mitigate the social and economic effects of the suspension of artistic and cultural activities, should constitute a starting point for ensuring that government budgets dedicated to culture are aligned with the needs of the cultural sector, which contributes significantly to the growth of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of national governments. In this sense, the Brazilian experience of the Aldir Blanc National Policy can and should be taken as an example, inspiration, and reference.
Finally, this is an opportunity to redesign and strengthen international cultural cooperation, from an intersectoral perspective that understands, welcomes, and promotes the broad participation of civil society. As a sign of the vitality of Mondiacult 2025, we highlight the broad mobilization that has been building on the part of citizens and civil society, with the promotion of several fora parallel and related to the official conference. Events and processes such as Ágora Cívica, Cultura e Cidadania, Laboratório Nômade, and Culturópolis, among others, create a kind of “World Social Forum of Culture” around Mondiacult. Attentive and active listening to these stakeholders by public authorities and international organizations could offer important contributions to confronting the global crisis from a cultural perspective with creativity and political imagination.
*Alexandre Santini is president of the Casa de Rui Barbosa Foundation (FCRB/MinC), a cultural manager and producer, and a writer. He holds a master's degree in Culture and Territorialities from the Federal University of Fluminense (UFF), and is a doctoral candidate in History, Politics, and Cultural Heritage at the Federal University of Funchal (CPDOC/FGV). He was Secretary of Culture for the city of Niterói, Director of Citizenship and Cultural Diversity at the Ministry of Culture, and Director of the Oscar Niemeyer Popular Theater. He was also a visiting professor in postgraduate courses in cultural management and policies at FLACSO (Argentina), Universidad Andina Simón Bolívar (Ecuador), and the University of Chile. He is the author of the book "Cultura Viva Comunitária: Políticas Culturais no Brasil e na América Latina" (Living Community Culture: Cultural Policies in Brazil and Latin America).
