The Minister of Culture, Juca Ferreira, was not upset by the fact that his successor, Ana de Hollanda, pretends to review the bill that changes copyright in Brazil. ‘I know that this government is interested in continuity and that different inflections are normal under these circumstances. I feel alright about this’, were the words he gave to the newspaper Estado de São Paulo.

The bill is being studied by the Casa Civil, on its way to Congress, and was the result of three years of debate, apart from three months of public consultation on Internet. Ana de Hollanda is member of the Associação de Músicos, Arranjadores e Maestros (AMAR), and her position on this matter is different from that of the current administration. AMAR’s manifesto, available on its Website, reads ‘We support the Escritório Central de Arrecadação e Distribuição (ECAD) and condemn any campaign aiming at weakening this organization which is a conquest made by artists’.

‘Her will to take possession of this project is legitimate, as well as the fact that she thinks differently about it. It is normal’ stated the Minister. He only added that this text, which is being examined by the government, ‘incorporated the contribution of thousands of persons and institutions’.

Ferreira asserted that Antonio Grassi’s departure from government, in 2005, was asked for by Minister Gilberto Gil and that his return does not come as a surprise. ‘That remains in the past and has no relevance now’, were his words.

Juca wished good luck to the new Minister and talked about his future. His son, Rafael, will be born in January. ‘My work is my life. During the last 8 years, I worked for 8 to 12 hours a day. This means that now I have to place myself in a new scenario’, he pondered. He is interested in finding a job in the academic world, at a university or institute, to systematize what he considers the biggest achievements of the administrations he took part of, first with Gil and then by himself.

According to him, the most internationally praised programs, like Pontos de Cultura (5 thousand all over the country) should be kept and expanded by the new Minister. He considers weak points of the government the arts policy (music, dance, theatre and circus) and Funarte’s reform.

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