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Following protests by Brazilian artists, Brazil’s interim President Michel Temer will reinstate the Culture Ministry today, a government official said. Temer had created a policy to fold the Culture Ministry into the Education Ministry to save money, sparking protests from top performers like Caetano Veloso and Erasmo Carlos, pioneers of Brazil’s tropicalia and rock music movements.
Reuters reports:
“The decision to ax the culture ministry was part of Temer’s drive to tackle Brazil’s record government deficit by reducing the number of ministries by 10 to 23, one of the first measures he announced when he took office on May 12.
Singer-songwriters Caetano Veloso and Erasmo Carlos, pioneers of Brazil’s tropicalia and rock music movements, held a concert in the Education building in Rio de Janeiro last Friday in one of the protests by artists against the move.
Temer had also invited actress Bruna Lombardi and singer Daniela Mercury to head up the scaled-back culture portfolio. Both refused.
Temer will reinstate the ministry using a presidential decree and the new minister Marcelo Calero, a diplomat, will take office on Monday, Education Minister Jose Mendonca Filho said on his Twitter account late on Saturday.
It was the latest in a series of reversals by the interim government in its hastily organized transition.”
Read more at Reuters.
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