Brazil promotes local craft during World Cup

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Brazilian artisans will have the opportunity to showcase their products at World Cup venues and cultural spaces during the sporting events.

The project Vitrines Culturais (Cultural Shop Windows, in Portuguese) is led by the Ministry of Culture and will select 60,000 items to showcase Brazil’s handmade production to tourists visiting some of the host cities.

“We’re looking for pieces representing the various regions of the country. We look for quality and diversity, beauty, creativity, which has the expression of our culture, our Brazil,” says Culture Minister Marta Suplicy.

The minister made the point that foreigners may know Brazil from its beaches, carnival, beautiful women and good music, but that Brazil is “more than just that,” so the government wants to showcase the creativity of its craftspeople.

Craft from around the country will be displayed in Fifa Fan Fest venues and cultural spaces between June 12 and July 13 in Manaus, Salvador, Belo Horizonte, Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo and Porto Alegre.

However, crafters have only been told about the initiative and will have less than a month to produce the items and ship them over to the venues, which means that many artisans will not be able to take part.

Other issues include the fact that the government will not cover the insurance for the items, as well as the time it will take for artisans to be paid for their work, as this will only happen by October.

Despite these challenges, crafters who already have stock and resources will make the most of the opportunity. One of them is Francisco Correia Lima, best known as Francorli, is a printmaker from the state of Ceará (pictured above).

“Brazil will have many tourists at the time of the World Cup and this will be a good opportunity to promote our work,” says Francorli, who will be sending some 400 items to the government-sponsored outlets.