“The singer and songwriter Ana de Hollanda, indicated by the president Dilma Rousseff to coordinate the Ministry of Culture, is the first woman to join the gallery of the top authorities of Culture in Brazil.
Born into a family of intellectuals and artists, Ana de Hollanda, 62, is a singer, songwriter and cultural manager. She is the sixth of the seven children of the couple Sérgio Buarque de Hollanda – one of the most prominent Brazilian historians – and the pianist Maria Amelia Alvim.
Since her youth, she became involved in politics. She was a staff member of former Brazilian Communist Party (PCB) and participated as a militant in several election campaigns. Anna de Hollanda has also devoted herself to the public management area, always in the cultural sector.
From 1983 to 1985, she directed the department of music of the São Paulo Cultural Center. In the years 1986 to 1988, she was Secretary of Culture of the city of Osasco, under the management of Humberto Parro. From 2003 to 2007, she was head of the Music Center of the National Foundation for the Arts (FUNARTE). In the past three years, she worked as the vice-president of the Museum of Image and Sound (MIS), in Rio de Janeiro.
Ministry of Culture
The Ministry of Culture (MinC) was created on March 15, 1985, as a result of the split of the Ministry of Education and Culture (MEC). Its constitutional mission was defined as “the increasing of Brazilian society’s enjoyment of culture and access to the cultural goods and services.”
Throughout its 25 years of existence, the Ministry has had its structure remodeled four times, and has been chaired by 13 ministers, all of them prominent names in the country’s political and cultural scene. The list includes the well-known economist Celso Furtado (1986-1988), the philosopher and diplomat Sergio Paulo Rouanet (1991-1992), the lexicographer, writer and translator Antônio Houaiss (1992-1993) and the singer, musician and songwriter Gilberto Gil (2003-2008).