Culture, territory and citizenship: a study on cultural policies in Natal
Cultural Policies; Environmental Psychology; Cultural Citizenship; Territory.
This project investigates cultural policies in Natal from the perspective of cultural citizenship and its spatial distribution, considering its impact on people-environment relations in the city's territories. A discussion is undertaken based on the historical panorama of socio-spatial inequalities in Brazil, in line with the conceptualization of space, territory and citizenship of the geographer Milton Santos, cultural citizenship of the philosopher Marilena Chauí and appropriation’s concept of Environmental Psychology. Thus, cultural policies are a concrete example of how the State can act to expand (or discourage) citizenship materialized in territories, helping (or not) to encourage community appropriation through cultural and artistic equipment and expressions. Specifically, Natal is characterized by notable differences between its administrative zones in terms of socioeconomic conditions and provision of public spaces for leisure and culture. However, the local studies on cultural policies do not discuss the issue of equal territorial distribution of cultural projects. A documentary research investigated and mapped 6 public selections of direct fomentation between 2016-2019. The maps indicated the existence of cultural projects’ concentration in the historic center (notably Cidade Alta) and south’s neighborhoods. So, the spatialization of cultural policies of direct promotion reaffirms historical socio-spatial inequalities of the city. In the second methodological stage, a expert panel integrated semi-structured interviews with 11 cultural sector’s agents. As preliminary results, the experts point to the inexistence of permanent and reparative public policies for groups from peripheral territories, as well as a critical situation of cultural equipments and event’s fometation.