Virada Cultural is held in São Paulo with fewer stages and events

Virada Cultural is held in São Paulo with fewer stages and events


With fewer stages, fewer attractions and a rather empty center, the Virada Cultural, which was once considered one of the biggest events in the city of São Paulo, takes place from this Saturday (27th) to Sunday (28th). For this edition there will be 12 stages, spread throughout the city: but only one will work in the central region. And this will be the only stage that will work for 24 hours.

In this edition there will be concerts by Iza, Glória Groove, Léo Santana, Emicida, Michel Teló, Lexa, Melim, Baco Exú do Blues, Diogo Nogueira, Papatinho, Supla, Tierry, Karol Conká, Filhos da Bahia, AnaVitória, Pixote, Ferrugem, Marina Sena, Dilsinho, Tássia Reis, Tiee, A Dama, Salgadinho, Victor Fernandes and Baianasystem. The event will also promote a special tribute to the great dame of national rock, singer Rita Lee, who died in May this year.

Created in 2005 under the then mayor José Serra (PSDB), Virada emerged with the purpose of occupying the center of São Paulo and being a great gathering of people, promoting 24 hours of uninterrupted cultural programming through shows, performances, theaters , projections, exhibitions, dances and other manifestations. “The Virada Cultural seeks, above all, to promote coexistence in public spaces, inviting the population to appropriate the city center through art, music, dance, popular manifestations”, says a text published on the city hall website aimed at tourists visiting the city.

With that, the center was filled with attractions and the city’s population could move easily between the dozens of musical stages that varied between rock, funk, hip hop, pop, cheesy, sertanejo and others. These stages were set up at various points in the central region, such as Avenida São João, Avenida Ipiranga, in front of Estação Julio Prestes, Praça da República, Praça da Sé and in Vale do Anhangabaú. There were also stages set up in more peripheral regions, expanding spaces for culture.

This year, however, despite having received the name Virada do Pertencimento, the city hall reserved only one stage for the central region of the capital, which was set up in the Anhangabaú Valley. This at a time when the city center is experiencing several problems, which have increased tension and violence in the region.

The architect and urbanist and former secretary of culture of São Paulo, Nabil Bonduki criticized the changes made at the event, with the removal of attractions from the center of the capital. “First of all, it is important to rescue the origin of Virada. It was very important because it meant, for many people, a return to the center, a recognition of the central area. I think that Virada played a very important role in the recovery of public space and in the relationship between culture and public space, beyond being an event”, he said.

“The Virada represented a very important event for the city of São Paulo and was part of a process of recovery of the city’s public space. This is not to say that decentralization was not an important issue. And it was done. For a few years, we had a coexistence between Virada in the center and events, on the same day, in peripheral areas”,

explained Bonduki, recalling that, as secretary, he participated in the planning of the event in the 2015 and 2016 editions.

Of the more than 1,200 attractions that took place in 2019, the more than 1,200 attractions that took place in 2019 and its 35 stages (27 of them in the central region alone), this year’s Virada will have 500 attractions and 12 stages. In addition, the city government decided to keep only the Anhangabaú stage in operation for 24 hours, contrary to what happened in the other editions, when the entire program was scheduled to take place from 6 pm on Saturday to 6 pm on Sunday.

“What seems to me is that the confinement of Virada Cultural in Anhangabaú is a huge loss for the city, in many ways. Firstly, because it is a confined, fenced space, losing the character of a large group of events, which forced people to circulate through the public space and occupy the entire center. And, on the other hand, it is also expressing this moment of decadence in the central area. I think it is important to have these events in peripheral areas, but this should not exclude the central area, which is very important in São Paulo and cannot be abandoned”,

highlighted Bonduki.

For Bonduki, placing the stage only in the Anhangabaú Valley, in the central region, also reflects another serious problem, since this space was granted to the private sector.

“There is a very serious situation, from the point of view of privatization or segregation of public space, which is what happens in Anhangabaú. Virada will be public, free and open, but at that moment, Anhangabaú is now a fenced space. It ceased to be an open space for the city. And that’s bad for a city where it’s expected to be for everyone, open and where people can move freely. It makes me sad to go through Anhangabaú and you have, whenever there are events there, fences isolating Viaduto do Chá”,

highlighted the city planner.

The municipal secretary of Culture, Aline Torres, took criticism of the event as something natural.

“The Virada Cultural is now completing 18 years and 18 years at the center. But now society has another format and another desire and we need to make public policy where people are in need of public service. Then, [vamos] take the Virada Cultural do Pertencimento to Itaquera, Grajaú and Parelheiros, which are regions where we have very negative rates. AND [vamos] to make culture, in fact, a transforming potential of regional society. We understand that the criticisms are super shallow and we keep moving this boat”,

he said.

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