Independent Art Spaces Launch Collaborative Fund for Brazilian Artists

Six autonomous art spaces across Brazil have established the Collaborative Fund for Artists and Creators to support cultural workers nationwide. The initiative, developed from FunColab by Solar dos Abacaxis in Rio de Janeiro, includes Casa do Povo (São Paulo), Chão SLZ (São Luís), Galeria Maumau (Recife), JA.CA (Belo Horizonte), and Pivô (São Paulo). Its first action, BROTAR, provides R$ 800 grants to artists who then share their practices via the fund's social media and nominate another professional to receive support. Ceará artist Linga Acácio and Maranhão artist Layo Bulhão were announced as initial participants, with four more to be named soon. The fund aims to create a chain of care supporting 36 artists through six cycles. According to Bernardo Mosqueira, director of Solar dos Abacaxis, the fund seeks individual, corporate, and institutional partnerships from Brazil and abroad to sustain its activities. A parallel online donation campaign has been launched. The initiative emerges amid severe resource scarcity and institutional breakdowns, intensified by the COVID-19 pandemic and governmental neglect, aiming to preserve cultural producers' lives through mutual support networks.