Rio’s City Hall Bans Handicraft Markets and Leaves Exhibitors Outraged

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Since June, approximately three thousand artisans are forbidden to exhibit their works in the city’s markets of Rio de Janeiro. The reason given by the city’s inspectors is Decree 18.818, of July 2000, issued by the then-mayor Luiz Paulo Conde, which forbids trade markets in the city’s public areas. Karla Maria Costa, events and projects coordinator of the Circuito Carioca de Artesanato (“Rio de Janeiro Crafts Circuit”), contests the decision.

“We’ve been working on the streets for 18 years in traveling markets and there’s never been any prohibition. If the goal is to comply with the law, then why only now? – she questions. “We have thousands of professionals who depend on their art to work. The ban took place on the eve of Valentine’s Day, a great time for sales. Nobody managed to put the goods on the streets, and the loss was tremendous”.

According to Karla, since June some exhibitors have continued to take risks in unlicensed markets or to pay the high fees that are charged in closed events.

With a degree in Sociology and Geography, Kléverson Nogueira, 51, found in handicraft a way to overcome unemployment. More than that: craftsmanship has taken him out of depression at the most difficult time of his life. He, who always made the garlands and the bows for family Christmas presents, decided to invest in this talent. The initial intention was to offer his creations in children’s stores. Until he had a chance to exhibit his products at a market in late 2016.

Nogueira says that he is one of the almost 13 million unemployed in the country who have found a chance to reinvent themselves. “I saw a chance to help myself and others in this opportunity that I found. Then the government, which should be the first to support us, stops it all, without listening to us and without giving us any information. The frustration is great,” he says, moved.

Sought, the city hall reported in a note, that Felipe Michel, of the Municipal Secretary of Healthy Aging, Quality of Life and Events, will meet with the Treasury Department to discuss the 2000 decree and that will summon the marketers for a meeting. “The aim is to reach a consensus that favors all parties – the creative economy, private initiative, and the city. The new management is fully committed to encouraging the population to take up public spaces,” reads the note.

Source: O Globo