ABSTRACT
In early 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic left the Brazilian art world perplexed, as vast sectors of the entertainment industry were immediately shut down, and live performance became unviable. From one moment to the next, musicians, actors, artists, technicians, costume and set designers, among other art world professionals, were no longer able to work and guarantee their own survival, and that of their dependents. Not only did it soon become clear that these circumstances would be long-lasting, the impacts of the pandemic in Brazil were made all the worse by the Bolsonaro government’s extreme mismanagement. Emergency funding for vulnerable workers was offered, but it excluded many categories, including workers in the arts and cultural spheres. In light of this, some members of the artistic community undertook extended negotiations with political representatives to find solutions to assist this segment of the Brazilian population. These articulations resulted in the Aldir Blanc Emergency Bill, a decree that aimed to provide emergency funding for cultural workers across the country. This chapter looks at how the bill was negotiated within the constraints of the present regime, how it impacted musicians, and how it was employed by musicians in the city of São Paulo.
