An official source told Lusa that the former Ministry of Culture, now merged into the Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Environment, in the context of the remodeling of the ministerial bodies, has funded the million million kwanzas to the associations as "a measure to help the artistic class. ".
According to the same source, who reacted to the "clamor of the artists", who in a period of social isolation point to difficulties to survive due to the cancellation of cultural music activities, the decision to "support the artists" was taken before the merger of the ministerial bodies.
Artists and cultural producers warned last week that they have "difficulties in surviving" in this period of social confinement and canceled cultural activities due to the covid-19 pandemic, defending support from the authorities and "urgent application" of copyright.
According to the executive director of Nova Energia, producer of artistic and cultural events, Yuri Simão, the moment remains challenging for all players in the sector because "it is very difficult to survive in a situation where companies do not work".
"In our case, we had productions in progress and we had to stop everything with costs already built in," said Yuri Simão, speaking to Lusa, admitting the possibility of "migrating to small and medium-sized companies and from there absorbing state support".
For the person in charge of Nova Energia, producer of the well-known musical show "Show of the Month", which in March saw two shows postponed, the scenario "continues and will be difficult for all those who work with culture".
Because, he added, "one of the aspects that can be very negative is the question of people being afraid to return to the street and taking a long time to adapt and get used to this mass movement".
In a period of social isolation, many artists, with no fixed income, use digital platforms to perform free shows and appeals to the need to comply with protection measures.
Yuri Simão considered, on the other hand, that due to the absence of an interconnection between digital platforms, the financial and entertainment sectors "are difficult via Internet shows without artists absorbing any income there".
The singer Selda Portelinha also considered the current situation of artists difficult, "mainly of people who live from art", defending an "urgent search" for alternatives to fill the lack of income.
"It is a class that will suffer a lot even after this pandemic is resolved, it will be a class still affected because I believe that social distance will remain for some time even after the pandemic," he said.
