TOWARDS MORE HYBRID ARENAS

THE QUILOMBAQUE CULTURAL COMMUNITY'S TRANSITION BETWEEN HERITAGE AND CULTURAL PRODUCTION

Abstract

We discuss the interactions between different ways of acting in the cultural heritage arena: on one hand, the public policy managed by state agencies and, on the other hand, the activities of the Quilombaque Cultural Community, a cultural collective from Perus (São Paulo). To this end, we draw on the theoretical proposals of the public action approach, which emphasizes the role of actors other than the state actors in the shaping of certain public arenas. Firstly, we characterize the Brazilian State's action in the field of heritage as a policy that managed to isolate itself from political undulations and social demands, despite criticisms from intellectuals and democratization experiences. Then, from an empirical study based on documentary research and interviews, we present the transits that the political-cultural collective makes between gaps in public policies to perform its actions of patrimonialization. In order to act in the cultural heritage arena, the Quilombaque Cultural Community mobilizes activities in the arena of cultural production based on municipal, state and federal public policies of promotion, so that the conclusions of the study allow us to reflect on the creative deviations of public action that can strengthen the continuity of the project of democratization of public heritage policies.