Singer Margareth Menezes at a press conference at Sauipe Park in 2013 in Bahia, Brazil. (Photo by Alexander Hassenstein, FIFA/FIFA via Getty) Images.
Brazil’s president-elect Lula is reviving the position of culture minister and has appointed the Bahian singer Margareth Menezes.
The Brazilian singer Margareth Menezes has been named her country’s next culture minister by president-elect Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.
The new president, known as “Lula”, is reinstating Brazil’s ministry of culture after right-wing populist Jair Bolsonaro disbanded it on the first day of his presidency in 2019. Bolsonaro folded the government department in with social policy and sports to create a new ministry of citizenship as part of a wider policy to reduce 29 ministries to just 15.
Born in the city of Salvador, Bahia, Menezes gained popularity in the late 1980s and 1990s for her energetic live performances. She was likely picked for the post thanks to her experience founding the nonprofit Associação Fábrica Cultural, which for nearly two decades has promoted culture, business, and education among underprivileged groups.
Menezes is also the director of the Mercado Iaô, a center for art, crafts, and creative business in Bahia. In 2020, she was named the Ambassador of Folklore and Popular Culture for Brazil by IOV-Unesco, an international committee that champions the preservation of intangible cultural heritage.
The founder and director of another Bahian cultural organization Maré Produções Culturais, Fernanda Bezerra, told the publication Trend Detail News, “in addition to being an incredible artist, she represents Brazilian diversity and has extensive experience in social impact projects.”
“Margareth is an enterprising artist who has management skills, experience and who, in public management, will assemble a team to advise her in this process,” she added. […]
msamba 