I’d like to say I’m very pleased,
and a little nervous too, but very pleased to be here, in this gathering
of such eclectic people.
I think it's a gathering strongly marked by generosity,
and also by love, which I think are two things
that Brazil has plenty of to offer the world.
I have chosen to address a topic because I think street art and theater,
as generators of citizenship and social inclusion,
and I’ll talk about this topic, discuss this topic a little,
in the light of my experience with Galpão.
I don’t know if you are familiar with the work of Galpão.
Galpão was recently here, in São Paulo.
Galpão was a troupe that began in 81, that is,
it came in contact with two directors from a German company
who came to Brazil.
They worked with street theater,
and, in a way, they gave us the instrumental to hit the streets.
We sort of hit the streets with nothing but our courage,
we didn't know what could come from it.
People thought it was crazy to, back in 1982,
going to a park, the ground zero in Belo Horizonte, Praça Sete,
and gather 500, 700 people in a circle, making theater.
Well, anyway, the story of Galpão encompasses 27 years.
I think it includes research on language,
it includes research on the Brazilian way to make theater,
the Brazilian culture.
I’d like to focus my brief exposure
in the light of this work that we develop,
of street theater, with street theater.
I have a profound belief that--
of course, our work has a modest contribution,
a lot more has to be done,
but I truly believe, in the light of this work
developed by Galpão for 27 years now,
in the transforming power of art, I think art has this power,
in the sense that, when you get out of the boundaries of the venue,
which, in a way, has oppressed theater and art, into an enclosed space,
a bourgeois place...
And when you manage to overcome these boundaries,
you find a rather heterogeneous audience,
the street audience.
I think you really manage to harness this transforming power of art.
I think there are countless examples of this happening,
because I think that, at the moment you give people the possibility to
dream, to exercise their imagination, their fantasy, the childlike game,
there is immediate improvement in these people’s state.
They gain more self-confidence.
They begin to exercise a right that I consider to be essential to human beings:
the right to imagine.
I think we associate it to citizenship, a lot,
and I believe this is a very serious problem we have in Brazil.
The fact that we have a huge portion of the population who are not citizens,
who don’t have the least access to things.
And we always associate this concept of citizenship
to the issue of having the right to education, to health care, to certain goods,
and we tend to forget -- especially the political leaders --
the need that people have,
as a first-need item, the need to imagine,
to have fantasies, to be able to experience their lives like that.
Because I think that, at the moment people experience art,
specifically theater, in our case, the theater,
or take part in artistic activities,
I think they manage to have another dimension of life.
And I don’t mean it theoretically, I’m talking about practice,
a 27-year practice of meeting these people,
especially in circuits outside of what we consider
to be the “official" culture circuit,
which are small towns, ghetto neighborhoods...
I feel that people manage to, in a way,
move away from this misery from their everyday survival,
and this is absolutely a first-need item for people.
This is something that really stimulates people,
and I think that’s an essencial practice
so that people can become true citizens,
in the sense of a person who is aware
of their rights and duties in face of society.
Art is something extremely stimulating of people’s self-esteem.
People feel more appreciated, they feel self-improvement,
they feel, from the exercise or fruition of art,
the desire to change their lives, to improve, to rethink themselves.
So, I think this is a fundamental of art,
specifically of theater.
And, in this sense, I feel extremely worried,
I know that after this talk comes the talk of an educator,
about how education in Brazil, in general,
and more sadly, in public schools,
education is absolutely off balance;
it has been dominated by empty technicality,
it is completely divorced from any artistic expression,
I think this is an extremely grave, an extremely serious issue.
So, I think that, along this 27-year experience,
I ascribe the great success of Galpão exactly to that ability
to articulate with the community.
Whether it is the community of Belo Horizonte, where we live, where we're based,
or other communities, from several places,
which are constantly visited by the troupe’s work.
So, I think that from the moment you are able to --
through your work -- forge this link with the people,
with the human beings, and provide this tool,
which is the tool of exercising imagination and fantasy,
then I think you create a weapon to be used in your favor.
And I think this does not require funding --
I mean, sure, it needs funding.
But I guess funding is much more a consequence of this relationship
that you are able to establish with a community,
because I truly believe that.
Galpão is currently funded by Petrobrás,
but I think that, actually, the funding is a consequence
of being able to forge this permanent link with the community.
Very interesting things have stemmed from this relationship we have with different communities,
I’m going to mention an example.
In 1984, we offered a 3-week workshop
in a town in the countryside of Minas, Uberlândia.
And a young woman participated in this workshop, she was in a mess.
She was overworked, and worked as a maid.
And she had that dream, she was a person who dreamed, she had a daughter
and her employer wanted to forbid her to take the workshop
and she missed class because she had to stay with her employer.
The result was that about 3 years ago we went back to Uberlândia,
and this young woman, she came to one of our performances in Uberlândia.
She is now an elementary school teacher,
she develops a project of theater with the children.
And that has actually transformed people’s lives.
It’s not a transformation in which you simply point the way.
I think, often, when we’re traveling in the countryside, young people go
“How can I start my theater troupe?”
The first thing we have to say is there is no path,
you have to make your path.
Of course, you could look up to certain examples which are always helpful,
but the path has to be built by the person, themselves.
It is a path you build.
So, as Guti said, it’s not paternalistic,
but it’s allowing people to discover that richness,
and I think this richness is the right to fantasy, to imagination,
or the exercise of imagination, of dreams, within all people,
with no distinction of social class, political or sexual option,
whatever, it’s something human.
I think this is essential.
I wanted to talk a little bit about the issue of public space, too.
I think many people have reported this issue of public space.
I think, at the moment, because our experience of 27 years in street theater, even --
Galpão started back in 82,
in a time when the streets were controlled by the army, by the police,
the streets were absolutely oppressive,
and society realized they could not overtake it.
If more than 5 people gathered, the DOPS would come and arrest everyone.
I think we’ve had 20 years now in an exercise of formal democracy
in Brazil, which I think has brought important achievements,
but this democracy is a little limp too.
I think that, at the moment, we’re having a big fight
for the conquest of public space.
This morning, as I was coming here from the hotel,
passing through the streets of São Paulo,
you see that, in the great Brazilian cities,
public space is dangerously becoming no man’s land.
A space that has no face, that is occupied by crackheads.
I mean, it has become a dangerous place for citizens to walk through.
It’s a place you have to avoid, public space.
I think this is extremely dangerous for democracy in Brazil.
I think democracy in Brazil is still facing some difficulties,
I think the social inequality is appalling,
and that is a danger to democracy.
I think there’s also a danger related to public space.
The street has turned --
it is dangerously turning -- into no man’s land.
I feel that this mission is important for us, artists.
Managing to escape this ghetto in which art finds itself
and reaching out for those people, for the wide and heterogeneous street audience.
Just to wrap up, I’d like to ask for your patience, it’ll be quick,
less than two minutes.
Because I think that, in a way, it
summarizes much better all of this that I have tried to tell you.
This was sitting on my desk, I have to reply, I have received it recently.
It’s a letter from a young woman called Márcia Ferreira,
she’s from a city called Salinas, in the Jequitinhonha Valley --
one of the poorest regions in Minas and in Brazil.
Galpão was there and this young woman wrote me this letter.
‘Hi, Eduardo Moreira, my name is Márcia, I’m a young mother
and a dreamer at 22 years old, and in 17 days I’ll be 23.
I love all art, all kinds, especially the theater.
I’d a pity that, here in my town, the arts don’t get much space--
that is, we’re lacking theater plays.
We haven't awakened our children to the desire of acting or developing other types.
Years ago, since I was in high school, I've been nurturing a dream
of someday being able to go to college and study drama to become an actress.
I have had to postpone this dream time and time again.
But currently this desire has become greater and more acute.
I know that at the moment it won't be possible.
But I’ve found out that I can develop small children's plays
right here in my town, in the community center.
I currently do volunteer work
with 34 children, on Saturdays and Sundays.
We have started to rehearse a dance,
and, God willing, we’ll perform on October 12th.
Dear Eduardo Moreira, the reason why I write you this letter is that
I’d like to ask you for some tips
or even maybe a brochure about theater, acting, etc.
if possible, because I know of your excellence as a director.
I still remember the day when Grupo Galpão came here to perform
the play “An imaginary Moliére".
I have kept with my belongings a card, a photograph.
I love theater so much that I get emotional,
because the reasons I have not yet been able to fulfill this dream are:
1. Right after I finished technical school,
I got pregnant with my daughter, Ana Beatriz.
Also four years ago, I have found out that I have some lesions in my cornea,
which gives me a certain limitation,
because when it’s bright I can only go out in the street wearing sunglasses.
I have seen a couple of eye doctors, but at the moment I cannot do anything
other than evaluations.
And the last reason is that I do not have the means to live in another city,
as I currently work with direct sales of Natura and Avon.
But I’ve never let these obstacles get me down.
Instead, they give me strength and persistence to go on moving forward.
This is why I am writing you this letter.
Because I am trusting God and developing these artistic activities
here in our children’s community center.
If possible, I’d like to rely on the collaboration of this excellent director --
when I grow up I want to be just like you --
I’m kidding but I do look up to and admire your work.
May God bless you, shine His light on you and give you many years of life and health
so that you can continue to perform your work.
I leave you with an affectionate hug."