Mineiro Soft Power: the Circula Minas program (2015-2018) as a measure of preservation, national and international diffusion of Minas Gerais culture and heritage

Abstract

The following paper analyzes the results of the Circula Minas Program of Cultural Interchange from 2015 to 2018, with closer attention to cultural heritage. The program’s edicts, supported by cultural and social policies, sought to financially support artists, researchers, masters of traditional knowledge and others residents of Minas Gerais for presentations and capacitation in many cultural areas, fostering national and international diffusion of mineiro culture, as well as its preservation. In face of that, this paper reflects on the edicts considering the concept of soft power, understood as the construction of friendly power relations, for instance, through cultural policies, strengthening, therefore, political and economic power both within and outside the country through cultural attractivity. The results are presented in charts containing the amount of
yearly selected proposals, the cultural areas represented, the value of financial support, cities of origin and countries of destination. The conclusions emphasize the potential comebacks of measures such as the referred edicts in the promotion and protection of the state’s culture and heritage in strengthening the mineiro and Brazilian soft power.