WHAT IS THE CULTURAL CENTER BRAZIL –USA OF FLORIDA
The Cultural Center Brazil-USA of Florida is a nonprofit organization, founded in 1997 by a group of Brazilian volunteers who are residents of Miami
The mission of the Cultural Center Brazil-USA of Florida is to disseminate Brazilian culture and to strengthen the cultural roots of Brazilian children who live in the area
The CCBU is located adjacent to the Cultural Sector of the Consulate General of Brazil – 80 S.W. 8th Street suite 2600. CCBU is located adjacently to the Cultural Department of the Consulate General of Brazil in Miami - 80 S.W. 8th street, suite 2600. Its Honorary President is the Consul General of Brazil, Ambassador Luiz Augusto Araujo Castro and its President is Adriana Riquet Sabino. The Cultural Center is administered by a volunteer Board of Directors.
The CCBU is maintained through annual contributions from members and through funds received in events and donated by patrons.
To accomplish its objectives, the Cultural Center maintains partnerships and relationships with producers of cultural events, cultural NGOs, educational institutions, universities to promote cultural and social events. Furthermore, the CCBU works hard to create exchange opportunities between Brazil and Florida. Through its programs, the Cultural Center strengthens its ties between Brazil and Florida and leaves an important and positive mark on the multi-cultural landscape of South Florida.
In 11 uninterrupted year of programming and disseminating Brazilian culture in South Florida, the CCBU has become a reference point for Brazlian culture and has served as an important bridge between the Brazilians and the multi-national South Florida Community
THE BEGINNING: The Archive becomes a Cultural Center
1996 - The initial idea: to create a centralized collection of materials for the use of students and their families for school projects on Brazil
At the time, the Ministry of Foreign Relations was inactive in Centers of Brazilian Study
The Consul General of Miami at the time, Luiz Fernando Benedini, suggested to build on the initial idea of the archives and to create a fully-blown Cultural Center
THE FIRST INITIATIVES:
The first step was to create and register a (501.c.3)Non-Governmental organization in the State of Florida
The second step was to establish a Body of Associates (I don’t know what this is)
The third step was to convene a Board of Directors entirely formed by enthusiastic volunteers
THE FIRST PROGRAMS:
The creation of a library open to the public. The Nélida Piñon library was created with approximately 5,000 books in Portuguese, CDs and videos. This library was inaugurated in Janurary 1999.
The support for cultural producers. The CCBU was the first cultural entity to support the first Brazilian Film Festival of Miami in 1997.
Special talks on Brazilian topics
Essay competitions on Brazilian themes for students
THE CULTURAL CENTER POSITIONS ITSELF AS A REFERENCE POINT FOR THE BRAZILIAN COMMUNITY IN SOUTH FLORIDA:
The CCBU becomes a point of contact with the Brazilian community in South Florida
In 1999, the public school system of Miami-Dade seeks a partnership with the CCBU to launch the first bi-lingual and bi-cultural program in the US
From 1999 to 2003, the bi-lingual project becomes a priority for the CCBU
THE ONLY BI-LINGUAL AND BI-CULTURAL PROGRAM OF PORTUGUESE AND ENGLISH IN THE AMERICAN PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM IS CREATED WITH THE SUPPORT OF THE CCBU IN 2003 IN THE ADA MERRITT SCHOOL IN MIAMI:
In 2003, after 4 years of attempting to create the program, the public school system in the Miami-Dade county creates the first and only bi-lingual and bi-cultural program in the US of Portuguese and English with the support of the CCBU, in the Ada Merritt School, near the center of Miami. In this program, 60% of the time is dedicated to classes in English and 40% of the time is dedicated to classes in Portuguese. Beyond the teaching of the language, the program delves into cultural, historical and geographic themes.
Initially,the Ada Merritt school offered the program only to kindergarten to third grade. In 2006, the Ada Merritt school expanded to include kindergarten to eighth grade.
In the 2007-2008 school year, 250 students had enrolled in the English-Portuguese program of the Ada Merrit K-8 Center. Of these students, approximately half of them were not of Brazilian origin.
This program is very relevant because it maintains the culture and language of the Brazilian children as well as disseminating the Portuguese lanuage and Brazilian culture to the students and families who are not Brazilian. Through this, we hope to shape the future cultural ambassadors between Brazil and the US.
NEW PARTNERS, NEW PROGRAMS:
The CCBU established partnerships with public and private entities to create programs and cultural event that create an important space for the Brazilian community of South Florida to disseminate Brazilian culture.
Brazilian Culture festival in the public libraries in Broward County- 2002, 2003, 2005
The public library system of Broward county includes 33 libraries and 1 million library card holders. In 2002, public library system of Broward contacted the CCBU to promote one week of Brazilian cultural events in the central library of Fort Lauderdale.
The success of this first festival lead to the creation of several other Brazilian cultural festivals with a duration of four and five weeks in 2003 and 2005. These festivals included presentations on various Brazilian themes, music and dance performances, classes on the Portuguese language and the screening of Brazilian films.
In conjunctions with the Broward Public Library, the CCBU apresentou, na biblioteca central de Fort Lauderdale o Primeiro Forum Brasileiro, um programa informativo para imigrantes brasileiros (2005).
NEXT PROJECTS:
conseguir a oficialização do programa português-inglês da escola Ada Merritt K-8, por meio de um acordo entre o governo brasileiro e o Sistema Escolar Público de Miami Dade.
Iniciar a distribuição de bolsas de estudo do Fundo de Bolsas de Estudo CCBU-ODEBRECHT-TAM no ano escolar 2009-2010, escolhendo os primeiros bolsistas ODEBRECHT e TAM.
Apresentar o Pavilhão Brasil-Minas Gerais, na Feira Internacional do Livro de Miami, nos dias 12 a 16 de novembro, 2006.
Brazil exhibit in the Miami Children’s Museum 2003, 2004
The CCBU collaborated with the team at Miami Children's Museum in the gathering of informative material and in the installation of the Brazil Exhibit in a space showing urban aspects of the country as well as the urban environments.
Miami International Book Fair – Brazil Pavilion: 2005, 2006 e 2007
In 2005, the organizing team of the International Miami Book Fair offered an opportunity to present the Brazil Pavilion in the international sector of the Book Fair. Founded 25 years ago, the Miami International Book Fair is the biggest fair of its type in the US. Every year, for 3 days, the fair attracts the biggest names in American and international literature around the campus of Miami-Dade College, which in turn attracts an enormous audience
The Brazil Pavilion is an excellent opportunity of disseminating Brazilian culture and is one of the major annual events of the Cultural Center.
2005 - Brazil Pavillion
2006 - Pavilhão Brasil -Salvador. This event was done in partenrship with the International Council of the City of Miami
2007 - Brazil Pavillion -Rio de Janeiro. Twelve thousand visitors came to the pavilion during the three days of the fair and participated in an intense and varied cultural program that included seminar of eight extraordinary Brazilian writers Ana Maria Machado, Affonso Romano de Sant'Anna, Marina Colasanti, Geraldo Carneiro, Horário Costa, João Almino, José Murilo De Carvalho e Roberto DaMatta).
CCBU creates a Scholarship Fund for students of Miami Dade College, with the support of ODEBRECHT Construction and TAM AIRLINES in 2007
In 2007, at the 10 year anniversary of the CCBU, the Cultural Center Brazil-USA of Florida received donations from two important Brazilian companies--Odebrecht Construction e TAM Airlines, to create a scholarship in perpetuity that would benefit talented, low-income students who are fluent in Portuguese. These student will be intermediaries in the commercial and international relations between Brazil and the US.
Miami Dade College is an important instrument of the democratization of advanced education of in Miami. Throughout the years, Miami Dade College has offered an incredible opportunity for immigrants and low-income students to have access to advanced education.
THE LEGACY OF THE BRAZILIAN COMMUNITY IN SOUTH FLORIDA
The activities of the Cultural center Brazil-USA have very positively contributed to open an important space for Brazilians in the region’s multi-national community and have created a legacy that contributed not only to the strengthening of the Brazilian community but also to the cultural enrichment of the South Florida.
NEXT PROJECTS:
conseguir a oficialização do programa português-inglês da escola Ada Merritt K-8, por meio de um acordo entre o governo brasileiro e o Sistema Escolar Público de Miami Dade.
Iniciar a distribuição de bolsas de estudo do Fundo de Bolsas de Estudo CCBU-ODEBRECHT-TAM no ano escolar 2009-2010, escolhendo os primeiros bolsistas ODEBRECHT e TAM.
Apresentar o Pavilhão Brasil-Minas Gerais, na Feira Internacional do Livro de Miami, nos dias 12 a 16 de novembro, 2006.
AWARDS
CCBU has received nine prizes from the Brazilian International Press Award for the events and initiatives it promoted that projected a positive image of Brazil abroad. The Brazilian International Press Award is an annual award with a national reach that recongnizes organizations and individuals that project a positive image of Brazil abroad.
BOARD OF DIRECTORS Honorary President: Amb. Luiz Augusto de Araujo Castro, Consul General of Brazil in Miami President: Adriana Sabino Vice President Administration: Gloria Johnson Vice President Events: Maria Inês Dal Borgo Vice President Marketing: Yara Cavaignac Vice President Membership: Rosane Weschler Director: André Martins Director: Cassia Silva Director: Francisco Ruiz Director: Gene de Souza Director: Joaquim Cavaignac Director: Karen Acher-Howard Director: Maria do Carmo Fulfaro Director: Silvana Mandelli
Centro Cultural Brasil-Usa 80 SW 8th Street, Suite 2600
Miami, FL 33130
Tel. (305) 376-8864 / Fax: (305) 376-8865 ccbu@centroculturalbrasilusa.org
Open Monday, Wednesday and Thursday
from 10am to 2pm
Payed parking at building's garage
Centro Cultural Brasil-Usa
80 SW 8th Street, Suite 2600
Miami, FL 33130
Tel. (305) 376-8864 / Fax: (305) 376-8865 ccbu@centroculturalbrasilusa.org
