Education in Brazil can be broadly separated into the state system and the independent system.

State-provision of primary and secondary education is basic and highly variable. Government spending has focused on tertiary education to the detriment of primary education, with the result that public universities are well supported, although not without chronic funding shortages in some areas (while huge public resources may be available for equipping art departments with Apple computers, general infrastructure is often crumbling, with no funds for soap or toilet paper). Art teaching in state schools is rudimentary or almost non-existent. Private schools are the option for most of the growing middle class and, there, art education can vary from excellent to basic according to the ethos of the school. Much art education of primary and secondary pupils is supplemented by museum and gallery education programmes and other independent foundations, such as the Mercosul Biennial or the Parintins Festival, for example, and while these may often be excellent programmes in themselves for encouraging young people's interest in contemporary art, they are little substitute for a proper arts programme in school.

At University level, state-run federal universities provide undergraduate and postgraduate fine arts courses, and these are supplemented by a range of private universities and degree-awarding colleges. The aim of most students will be to enter a federal or state university, where there are no fees, while private (often church-run) universities can involve considerable financial commitment, with students having to work full-time to support their study at night. Private universities are more likely to be concerned with generating revenue from their students than engaged in academic research, unless there are clear business connections and support. Art courses are consequently more likely to be geared towards research in federal universities.

Other forms of art education take place in the informal sector. Many cites have ‘Casas de Cultura' which may offer adult education courses and out-of-school projects for lower-income groups, for example. Porto Alegre City Council's Atelier Livre, set up by the city's favoured son, Iberê Camargo in the early 1960s on the upper floor of the public market and now based in its own home with studios, gallery space and theatres, provides practical painting, drawing, printmaking and ceramics courses for the local community and has been an essential part of the supplementary art training for many artists from the city. The independent Museu do Trabalho in Porto Alegre also provides sculpture and printmaking courses, together with print-studio services for artists.

Many artists also provide informal art classes from their own studios as a way of generating supplementary income and also maintaining a client base for their exhibitions. Until very recently, an organisation in Porto Alegre known as Torreão, was the base for courses run by the artist Jailton Moreira for 15 years (still continuing in another independent space today) which has provided the grounding for many artists from the city, who often list a short course at Torreão as being as important as a degree course on their CV.

A surprising proportion of contemporary artists have not studied art for first degrees and come from other backgrounds, such as architecture, advertising, philosophy, music, biology etc., or have only studied art in independent non-formal conditions, which have on occasions given sufficient grounding for successful careers.

Image: UFRGS Artinstitute print room, photo by Maria Lucia Cattani

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