By Giuliano de Miranda
Carolina Streets He took command of State Secretariat of Culture of Espírito Santo After a career spanning almost two decades linked to cultural production, this journalist by training began to engage with this world while still at university, through the student movement, the university radio station, coverage of exhibitions and events, and contact with artists and producers. She worked in newsrooms and theater, but her experience as a reporter sparked another interest: directly participating in the creation of what she had previously covered. This led to work at music festivals and the Vitória Film Festival, as well as interaction with a generation that, faced with existing gaps in the state's cultural scene, sought to create the events and circuits they wanted to attend.
Carolina later joined the Rede Cultura Jovem program, participated in the development of the State Culture Plan, worked at the Municipal Culture Secretariat of Vitória, and in 2019, was invited by Fabrício Noronha (Secretary of Culture of the State of Espírito Santo) to assume a sub-secretariat at Secult. Now, as head of the department, she takes on projects whose formulation and development she closely followed.
Giuliano de MirandaYou often say you're a person "of the scene, of the streets." How has this practical experience led you to public administration?
Carolina StreetsMy journey was never planned to lead me to this place, but when I look back, I realize that experiences have ultimately led me here. I've worked in cultural production for almost 20 years, and practically my entire professional life has been connected to this field. I started while still at university, participating in the student movement, organizing activities, and doing things with my friends. I'm a journalist by training, and my first professional experiences were also related to culture. At the university radio station, for example, I hosted a program with other students and interviewed artists. That's how I got to know a good part of the cultural scene in Espírito Santo. My training is very practical. I'm from the streets, not the office. Even today, when I arrive at places, often the first people I meet are the stagehands, the technicians, the suppliers, because they are the ones making things happen.
GMDid you and Fabrício Noronha work together before the Secretariat? What characterized that generation of producers?
CRWe've been partners for many years, since before he was Secretary. We belong to a generation that was very much about rolling up our sleeves and getting things done, about trying to create the kind of scene we wanted for the State.
There were many gaps and a lack of opportunities, both for hosting exhibitions, shows, films, and other activities, and for the local artists themselves to gain international recognition. We weren't even artists ourselves, and we found our place in production because we wanted to build what we wanted to see. We wanted to hold festivals to bring in artists we liked, to have access to certain types of music and cinema, and at the same time, to stimulate the Espírito Santo region. There was also a period very much marked by collectives, which were important for bringing people together and fueling this movement.
From production to public policy formulation.
The experience in the Rede Cultura Jovem (Youth Culture Network) opened a new front in Carolina's career path. The program, focused on cultural policies for youth, had calls for proposals, training for community agents, and a young team designed to establish direct dialogue with this audience.
Later, participating in the development of the State Cultural Plan broadened her understanding of the territory. The work involved traveling through different regions to identify potential, shortcomings, and expectations. While the collectives had primarily helped her understand Vitória and the activity surrounding it, the plan allowed her to see Espírito Santo on a different scale.
In 2018, Carolina joined the Municipal Secretariat of Culture of Vitória and worked with the Rubem Braga Law (a law to incentivize culture) during a period of recovery and reformulation. Her time there was brief. The following year, she joined the Secretariat of Culture as undersecretary.
GMHow have these early experiences in management changed your understanding of cultural policy?
CRThe Rede Cultura Jovem (Youth Culture Network) was my first experience directly linked to state public policy. There were calls for proposals that could be accessed by young people from the age of 15, training for community agents, and a team also made up of very young people, precisely to create a relationship with this audience. Later, I was invited to participate in the elaboration of the State Culture Plan. We traveled throughout Espírito Santo to make a diagnosis, understand the strengths and weaknesses in the municipalities, and listen to what people wanted in order to build a ten-year plan. It was very important because, if the work with the collectives had helped me understand Vitória and that scene closer to it, this process allowed me to understand Espírito Santo as a whole, its formation and its roots.
Next, I went to the Municipal Secretariat of Culture of Vitória to work with the Rubem Braga Law. In 2019, Fabrício Noronha invited me to take on the sub-secretariat at Secult.
GMYou were directly involved in the previous administration. Now, as secretary, is your priority to maintain what has already been done or to open new fronts?
CRIt's about continuing on the right track, opening new paths. Cultural policy is a continuous process. Public policy needs time to consolidate, and many things have been paved over these years and are now entering new stages.
For example, we built a management model for facilities such as the Governor's House Cultural Park and the Espírito Santo Arts Wharf through partnerships with other institutions. This model needs to be consolidated, evaluated, and refined. At the Wharf, there was a time when the priority was to finish a phase of the construction and open it. Now it is necessary to advance in structuring it as a cultural facility. This involves discussing the program that will be offered to society, the museological plan, and the curatorial guidelines.
There are many things underway that began previously. We also have the installation of six CEUs (Cultural Centers) planned for municipalities in the state of Espírito Santo: Vila Velha, Cariacica, Serra, Linhares, Baixo Guandu, and Fundão. The proposal is to decentralize the facilities and activate these territories. Not everything will be built and delivered in a short period, but we can start and structure these processes.
Exchange, circulation, and a policy that goes beyond the call for proposals.
Among the areas that Carolina Ruas considers strategic for the coming years is the audiovisual sector. According to the secretary, public funding opportunities remain necessary, but the sector now demands a broader approach, capable of encompassing professional training, market access, attracting productions, and fostering exchange with external stakeholders.
This openness also appears when she talks about artists, spaces, and institutions. In her view, circulation cannot simply mean the departure of professionals from Espírito Santo to larger centers. It's about creating relationships in both directions: taking the production of Espírito Santo outwards and bringing other projects, references, and interlocutors to the state.
GMIs the audiovisual sector one of the areas where you see a need for a more specific policy?
CRYes. It's a strategic sector because it leverages many others. In recent years we've maintained a policy of promoting it through calls for proposals, but now we need to connect other fronts. This involves training, professional qualification, opportunities in market windows outside of here, and also attracting productions to Espírito Santo. The idea is to create an exchange between those who produce here and those who produce elsewhere. It's an area that we've already managed to start structuring as a program.
GMAnd can this logic of exchange extend to other areas of culture?
CRI think so. It's always very healthy. When you meet the other, you find what is different, you exchange, and you also realize what might be missing. We can connect spaces, bring them into contact, give circulation and visibility to activities. They can learn from each other and have experiences outside. But it's not just about going out. Going out is important, as is coming back and bringing things here.
I believe we have a syndrome of thinking we are too small. We may be small in number, but, due to the quality of our production and the consistency of our work, we are relevant. There are artists from here circulating, and we are also beginning to see a greater interest from artists from outside the state in coming to Espírito Santo. There are structural barriers, and centers like São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro will always have a much larger concentration and market. This doesn't mean that only they can occupy avant-garde positions. We also have the potential.
The limits of funding through calls for proposals.
The expansion of funding, however, has brought a problem that Carolina considers necessary to address. Access to funding opportunities is not equal. Those who already master the application processes, possess technical resources, and have access to information tend to accumulate experience and increase their chances of being selected again. For those who have not yet entered this circuit, the barriers remain greater.
According to her, the solution lies in mechanisms capable of better distributing resources and expanding territorial reach. But the challenge doesn't end with project selection: management also needs to consider what remains when the funding runs out.
GMThe announcement remains essential, but does it need to be corrected?
CRIt is fundamental, especially for expressions with less visibility and that are more fragile from a market perspective. At the same time, it can reproduce inequalities that already exist in society. Those who have more access to information, resources, and technology end up having a head start. If a person has already approved a project, they learn how that mechanism works and tend to have more ease in the future. Those who have never had access encounter more difficulties. That is why we need to make corrections and inductions to make resources more distributive. Quotas and territorialization mechanisms help in this regard.
Simply providing the funding isn't enough. The challenge is to ensure the project's longevity, connecting initiatives happening in different places and fostering exchange. Ideally, these actions should continue to exist beyond that specific funding period.
GMHow can we strike a balance between public support and the sustainability of these spaces?
CRStimulus is important for their continued existence, but these institutions also need to mature. Some will be born and end their cycle; others have the conditions to build a more robust body of work, grow, and find ways to be sustainable. Public policy needs to be an inducer of the scene, not entirely responsible for it. It is necessary to create an environment in which other actors can develop, seek alternatives, and expand their relationships. It is also interesting to see how one space feeds another. A place emerges, a movement forms around it, other people create new spaces, and that network begins to feed back on itself.
Education, heritage and meeting spaces
Among the areas that haven't progressed as much as she'd like, Carolina highlights cultural education. The expansion of projects, resources, and equipment has created new opportunities, but it has also increased the demand for qualified professionals.
In the performing arts, the issue takes on added weight. She observes that generations are changing and that the State needs to train new actors, playwrights, and other professionals. The absence of a continuous policy capable of combining open courses and technical training is pointed out as a gap.
Another field that demands its own approach is that of popular culture. For Carolina, public funding programs alone cannot guarantee the preservation of knowledge transmitted by masters and mistresses. Recognition, registration, and monitoring are equally necessary dimensions.
GMWhat are the most evident gaps today that still need to be addressed?
CROne of them is training. We still haven't managed to build a more robust and continuous policy that works on various levels, from free courses and workshops to technical qualification. If we have institutions and a more structured production, we also need well-trained people to work in that environment. In the performing arts, this is very clear. Generations are changing, and it is necessary to train new actors, playwrights, and other professionals.
Another issue is safeguarding popular culture, especially that of the masters and mistresses. There are initiatives and calls for proposals, but this field requires a different kind of sensitivity. It's not just the funding that will make the difference. It's necessary to recognize, monitor, and document popular expressions and knowledge, and to give visibility to knowledge that is often oral and transmitted between generations. It's a policy that needs to advance through the very people who keep this knowledge alive.
GMWhat does the Governor's House Cultural Park reveal about new ways of thinking about a cultural facility?
CRIt's a first step towards a type of space we didn't have before. Many facilities are specialized for specific audiences. The park is multicultural. All kinds of people circulate there: children, older people, art students, those going to the craft fair, those practicing yoga, those walking their dogs. There are small celebrations happening in a completely autonomous and spontaneous way. This is very interesting because we don't need to talk about art all the time to be talking about culture. Culture is also the place where people meet, connect, and exchange experiences.
Between the restoration of cultural heritage and the construction of new spaces.
The Carlos Gomes Theatre represents a different experience. The challenge was to preserve a century-old building while simultaneously updating it. Carolina considers the reopening a symbol of the possibility of reconciling tradition, accessibility, and contemporary technical resources. The theatre's reopening is also related to a period when many stages remained closed or had reduced activity. The reconstruction of a circuit for the performing arts, therefore, involves both buildings and training and circulation.
At Cais das Artes, the current phase involves institutional consolidation. In addition to the program, the museological plan, and the curatorial guidelines, the completion of the complex's theater remains on the horizon, designed to host productions that require a structure currently lacking in other spaces in the state.
However, expanding access is not limited to large facilities. Carolina Ruas cites the Transcol Library, installed in terminals of the metropolitan transport system, as an example of an experience that places books in the daily lives of thousands of passengers. For her, initiatives that work can be replicated and taken to other places.
The Secretary also draws on her academic background in Economics to explain a concern about the future: predictability. A sustained policy allows artists, producers, curators, and technicians to envision conditions for developing their careers in Espírito Santo. Without it, a pattern familiar to her generation repeats itself: professionals who leave to study or work at large institutions and end up building their careers elsewhere. Carolina doesn't question the movement; on the contrary, she considers the exchange necessary. What she advocates is the possibility of leaving, returning, or remaining without displacement becoming the only alternative for growth.
GMWhat worries you most when you think about the future of culture in the state?
CRThere is a need to remain vigilant and monitor what has been built. Continuity provides predictability. If someone is starting out now as an artist, producer, or curator, they need to find opportunities to develop with quality here. My generation saw many people leave to study and then work in other institutions, including abroad. This is part of the circulation and can be very positive. But we also need to create conditions for trajectories to exist in Espírito Santo. Going abroad is important, returning is too. This exchange feeds what we do here. When we take one step, we realize how much further we still have to go. The policy needs to continue maturing, expanding access, and creating new possibilities.
Finally, Carolina returns to the comparison with major centers. She acknowledges the differences in scale, but rejects the idea that they should be used to measure the quality of local production. For her, artists circulating, better-equipped facilities, independent spaces, and greater interest from external agents indicate that Espírito Santo has the potential to occupy more assertive positions in the cultural circuit.
GMDoes Espírito Santo still see itself as small in the face of large urban centers?
CRI think that idea still exists to some extent, but we're not that small. We may be on a smaller scale, but that doesn't diminish the quality and consistency of what's produced here. We have very good artists, stronger institutions, and spaces capable of hosting projects. Our artists are circulating, and professionals from outside are also starting to show interest in coming to the state. Larger centers will continue to have larger markets. That doesn't mean they have exclusive rights over the avant-garde. We also have the capacity to occupy that space.
