The change is part of a rash of reforms by new Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro
In the ten days since he was sworn into office, Brazil’s president Jair Bolsonaro has already enacted a rash of measures that have sparked concerns across the globe.
Among his first orders of business, reports Gabriella Angeleti of the Art Newspaper, was dissolving the country’s ministry of culture, along with the ministries of sports and social development.
All three ministries have been merged into a single department fronted by Osmar Terra, who served as the minister of social development under the previous government. By his own admission, Terra has little experience in cultural policy. According to Angeleti, he “was criticised by Brazilian arts leaders when he said his only cultural expertise is that he knows ‘how to play the berimbau,’ a single-string instrument played to accompany capoeira.”
News about the dismantled culture ministry has fallen somewhat quietly amid Bolsonaro’s other reforms.
