Amidst all the excitement of the last week, it’s been hard to find time to write up all the important developments. As mentioned earlier, two officials from Salvador’s city council have come to Italy to show off their prize street artists Julio and Bigode. The Rome ICBIE supporters immediately saw this as an opportunity to forge a working relationship with the Rome city government, so we informed them of the arrival of Edvando Luiz Castro Pinto (Tucunaré), the municipal director of urban decorum, and Edvaldo Evaristo dos Santos Filho, the municipal director for tourism (and Salvador’s giant carnival). Rome’s city government is divided into twenty local districts, and due to Pietro’s roots in Garbatella, the eleventh district agreed to help us, providing the Factory as the venue for our Oct. 3 benefit evening, and a meeting-reception with the district’s “mini-mayor” Andrea Catarci was set for 12 noon on October 4th, and the whole ICBIE crew showed up to participate.
After the introductions and an overview of ICBIE’s strong Roman roots, the visiting officials presented their innovative Salvador grafita project (with Julio providing the simultaneous Portuguese-Italian translation), and a lengthy discussion ensued. The issue of graffiti is a hot one in Italy, and in Rome in particular, and the general stance of the government has been leaning towards ever harsher repression, so the Salvador initiative, which identifies young writers, provides them with training and materials, and then hires the best ones, who receive R$ 400 per month, plus transportation costs, a daily meal ticket and materials, was given an encouraging degree of consideration. The overwhelming success of their project provides progressive Roman politicians with a valid model that can resolve this urban problem in a positive way, creating artists rather than criminals.
The officials of both Rome and Salvador expressed their appreciation for this encounter, thanking the ICBIE for providing this important exchange of ideas. And Mr. Catarci has been formally invited to visit Salvador, to see firsthand the many wonders of Salvador grafita.
