The effects of the novel coronavirus pandemic are affecting the entire world, including freelance professionals, including musicians, dancers and actors, who make their living from the arts in their cities. In recent weeks, those who left their homes to perform on the streets, or even in theaters and cultural spaces, saw their performances canceled, cultural spaces closed and the possibility of holding their shows go down the drain. To minimize these impacts, the Ekloos Institute, a pioneer in social acceleration in Brazil, sponsored by Vale, created theUp! Festival. The objective is to “improve” the situation of these artists, enabling them to be paid for creating video content and, at the same time, allowing the public to enjoy them for their entertainment.
“Recognized artists have taken advantage of this period of social isolation to offer live performances to their fans for free on YouTube (“lives”). These events have generated millions of views across the country. Why not also give visibility to independent artists, who also need financial resources to survive during this crisis? The UP! Festival aims to help artists from all over Brazil and offer entertainment for those who are at home”, reinforces Andréa Gomides, president of the Ekloos Institute.
The Festival, which has been running since April 19, is expected to benefit more than 1,000 artists over its three-month duration. Until July 13, there will be daily updates, allowing the public to have fun, comment and share news in the artistic field.
“Our focus when sponsoring the UP! Festival was on independent and autonomous artists, investing in opportunities to give visibility to their productions and fostering Brazilian cultural expressions. Vale has been investing in culture in our country for two decades and at this time we need to come together and continue supporting the cultural sector,” says Christiana Saldanha, Vale’s Sponsorship Manager.
There will be five areas: Music, Theater, Dance, Literature and Humor. For each of them, artists simply need to publish their own content on YouTube and then register on the platform www.festivalup.org. The curators will determine whether the content is eligible to participate in the Festival. For each approved video, the artist will receive a fee of R$$ 300.00. Artists who are already known to the public and who want to support the festival can submit their material voluntarily and free of charge.
