Two years ago, the UK Branch engaged in dialogue with Célio Turino about the possibility of translating his book, Ponto de Cultura – O Brasil de Baixo para Cima, into English. Our interest in this thought-provoking hybrid of passionate logbook and rigorous piece of research sparked from a shared belief in the power of culture and of cultural exchange not only as a means to stimulate creativity, but also as an ideal material with which to build resilience and promote participation.

This common understanding of the potential of the arts, which is manifest in our strategic aims, has led to the materialisation of The Point of Culture: Brazil Turned Upside Down, an adapted translation of the original publication edited by Paul Heritage and Rosie Hunter (People’s Palace Project) launched by the UK Branch of the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation on the 14 January in our offices at 50 Hoxton Square (re: video of the seminar).

The book explains the emergence and fruition of the Cultura Viva programme and its pontos de cultura (re: blog on the seminar), points, places and practices of culture that ‘de-silence’ and promote existing expressions of popular culture. It does so not from the passive perspective of a cold observer, but with the clear intention of inviting the reader to join a debate on the existing paradigms governing arts support and community engagement.