Forum Permanente

What Forum Permanente does

Forum Permanente is a Brazilian nonprofit cultural organization founded in 2003 and based in São Paulo, affiliated with the University of São Paulo (USP) through three core institutional partners — ECA (Escola de Comunicação e Artes), IEA USP (Instituto de Estudos Avançados), and Centro de Tecnologia da Informação USP. It operates a web-based digital platform (forumpermanente.org) dedicated to critical coverage of museology, contemporary art exhibitions, biennials, and cultural policies in Brazil and internationally. The platform is structured as an interconnected content management system with eight functional modules: the Periódico Permanente academic digital journal (ISSN 2318-4647), thematic Dossiês aggregating articles and coverage of cultural events and crises, a Rede network module documenting collaborator activity, an Acervo of Creative Commons public-domain images, a Livros publications section, an Eventos archive of conferences and symposia, a Pessoas collaborator directory, and a Notícias chronological news feed.

The organization serves four primary audiences: museum professionals and curators, academics and researchers in art history and museology, artists and cultural producers, and cultural policy makers. Its core differentiator is 20+ years of continuous critical documentation of Brazilian cultural institutions, including long-form coverage of the MASP institutional crisis, the 2018 National Museum fire, the São Paulo Bienal, ICOM international conferences, and the dismantling of Brazilian cultural policy frameworks. Forum Permanente does not generate commercial revenue; it operates as an open-access platform funded by institutional grants from USP, project-specific public funding (Prêmio Procultura de Estímulo às Artes Visuais 2010 via Funarte), tax-deductible cultural incentive donations (Nota Fiscal Paulista), and occasional international support (Goethe Institut, French Embassy 'Night of Ideas'). The team comprises 6 employees, reflecting the lean operational structure typical of grant-dependent cultural nonprofits.

Name

Forum Permanente

Legal name

Fórum Permanente

Website

https://forumpermanente.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

2003

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Forum Permanente is a Brazilian nonprofit cultural organization founded in 2003 and affiliated with the University of São Paulo, operating an open-access digital platform that publishes critical coverage, academic dossiers, and an ISSN-registered journal on museology, contemporary art, and cultural policy for museum professionals, curators, and researchers.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Cultural research and museum documentation

NAICS

Libraries and Archives (51921), Museums, Historical Sites, and Similar Institutions (712)

SIC

Miscellaneous Publishing (2741), Periodicals: Publishing Or Publishing & Printing (2721)

akta.pro primary industry

Digital Archives, Libraries & Institutional Access Platforms (MPAJAMAJ)

akta.pro secondary industries

Open Access Scholarly Journals & Monographs (EDAGAFAJ), Humanities & Arts Scholarly Publishing (EDAGAFAE), Academic & Scholarly Journals Publishing (Peer-Reviewed) (MPAJABAC)

Keywords

• Museology publications
• Cultural policy research
• Art criticism archive
• Museum documentation
• Digital curatorial journal

Headquarters

HQ city

São Paulo

HQ country

Brazil

HQ region

Latin America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Others

Revenue model

1. Institutional Grants and Support: The platform receives institutional support from universities and cultural organizations including ECA-USP, IEA USP, and Centro de Tecnologia da Informação USP. Additional funding comes from cultural incentive programs such as Nota Fiscal Paulista donations and Prêmio Procultura de Estímulo às Artes Visuais 2010 via Funarte.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

Forum Permanente operates an open-access digital platform that publishes critical journalism, academic research, and archival documentation focused on museology, contemporary art exhibitions, and cultural policies in Brazil and internationally. The platform includes a peer-reviewed digital journal (Periódico Permanente, ISSN 2318-4647), thematic dossiers on institutional crises and cultural debates, a public-domain Creative Commons image archive, book publications, and event documentation. It serves as a historical archive and reference resource for museum professionals, academics, and cultural policy actors.

Product overview

Forum Permanente is a Brazilian digital platform focused on museology, art, and cultural policies. The platform operates as a web-based content management system offering multiple interconnected modules: the Periódico Permanente digital journal for academic discourse on art and museums; thematic Dossiês documenting cultural events and crises; the Rede network connecting collaborators; an Acervo of public domain images under Creative Commons; Livros publications; Eventos documenting artistic events since 2003; a Pessoas directory; and a Notícias news aggregation section. The platform serves as an archive and documentation resource for Brazilian and international art and cultural policy discussions.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Periódico Permanente: Digital journal exploring concepts of archive, collection, temporary exhibition, and experimental curating for current debates on art and museums. Funded by Prêmio Procultura de Estímulo às Artes Visuais 2010, managed by Funarte. ISSN 2318-4647.

Products and services

• Periódico Permanente A peer-reviewed digital journal with ISSN 2318-4647 dedicated to museology, contemporary art criticism, and cultural policy. It serves museum professionals, academics, researchers, and cultural policy actors in Brazil and internationally.
• Dossiês Thematic compilations of critical essays, research, and documentation on Brazilian museum crises and cultural policy debates, including dossiers on MASP, Nova Cultura à Brasileira, Quanto vale a cultura, and Patrimônio em Chamas. The dossiers serve as critical reference resources for researchers and cultural policy actors.
• Acervo A Creative Commons public-domain image archive documenting Brazilian contemporary art exhibitions, institutional events, and cultural activities. It serves as a reusable visual resource for researchers, curators, journalists, and cultural institutions.
• Livros Book publications produced by Forum Permanente on topics related to museology, cultural policy, and academic debate, including the book About Academia which documented four 2021 roundtable debates.
• Eventos

Quantifiable outcome

• Continuous operation since 2003 with ongoing publication and event coverage

Named customers6 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature3 records

Partnerships

Ten partnerships are on record, tiered minor, major and core.

• Cátedra KaaporaminorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2024Joint realization of extension course 'Museus, sujeitos e territórios em diálogo' with five remote sessions starting November 2024.
• Cátedra SustentabilidademinorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2024Co-presenting extension course on museums and territories with Cátedra Kaapora, PPGHA Guarulhos, PPGAI Diadema, and Pro-Reitoria de Pesquisa.
• Unifesp - Universidade Federal de São PaulominorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2024Partner through PPGHA program for joint extension course implementation via SIEX registration system.
• Games for Change Latin AmericaminorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2024Coverage of G4C Latin America 24-hour event at Museu das Favelas and USP focusing on identity and AI in vulnerable territories, part of French Embassy 'Night of Ideas' series.
• SISEM-SP - Sistema Estadual de Museus de São PaulomajorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2009Partner for annual Encontro Paulista de Museus coverage and São Paulo state museum network collaboration since 2009. SISEM-SP is linked to Secretaria da Cultura do Estado de São Paulo.
• ACAM Portinari - Associação Cultural de Apoio ao Museu Casa de PortinarimajorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2009Co-organizer of Encontro Paulista de Museus event alongside SISEM-SP, contributing to annual São Paulo museum sector policy discussions.
• Centro Cultural São PaulomajorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2007Co-presented events including curatorial debates and lectures, such as Ann Demeester's 2007 curatorial lecture. Strategic partner for public programming.
• ECA - Escola de Comunicação e Artes - Universidade de São PaulocoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2003Long-standing institutional support partner providing academic affiliation and infrastructure. ECA is one of Brazil's leading communication and arts schools within USP.
• IEA USP - Instituto de Estudos Avançados da Universidade de São PaulocoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2003Institutional partner providing research infrastructure and academic legitimacy for Forum Permanente's scholarly activities and publications.
• Centro de Tecnologia da Informação - USPcoreTechnology or Integration · 1 January 2003Technology infrastructure partner providing digital platform support, hosting, and technical resources for the Forum Permanente web portal.

Scale indicators3 records

Recent moves5 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Direct peers

• JSTOR: Digital library and archive platform providing open and subscription-based scholarly content across the humanities and arts. Directly comparable as a digital archive platform serving academic users, with ISSN-indexed journals and curated collections analogous to Forum Permanente's Periódico Permanente.
• SciELO: Latin American open-access scholarly publishing platform with ISSN-indexed journals. Highly comparable in geography, open-access model, academic affiliation, and role as a regional humanities/social sciences publishing infrastructure similar to Forum Permanente's Brazilian museology platform.
• OpenEdition: Open-access publishing infrastructure for humanities and social sciences journals, books, and academic blogs. Closely comparable in open-access model, humanities focus, and digital platform approach to scholarly publishing.
• Redalyc: Open-access academic publishing network for Latin American and Ibero-American journals in social sciences and humanities. Directly comparable as a regional, open-access, ISSN-based scholarly publishing platform serving similar academic and institutional users.
• Cairn.info: French-language open-access platform for humanities and social sciences journals and books. Comparable as an academic, ISSN-registered, open-access publishing platform with dossiers and thematic collections serving research communities.

Others

• Platô - Plataforma de Museus e Acervos: Brazilian Ministry of Culture platform aggregating data on museums and collections across Brazil. Adjacent comparison as a Brazilian public-sector digital platform supporting museum documentation and access, partially overlapping Forum Permanente's dossier and archive functions.

Regional players

• Revista do Museu de Arte Contemporânea da USP: USP-affiliated academic journal publishing art history and museology research. Comparable as a Brazilian, USP-affiliated, ISSN-indexed open-access academic journal on art and museology — directly overlapping Forum Permanente's Periódico Permanente content area.
• Hemeroteca Digital Brasileira: Brazilian National Library's digital newspaper and periodical archive. Comparable as a Brazilian open-access digital archive for cultural and historical content, with similar open-access ethos and cultural preservation mission.

Broad incumbents

• Europeana: EU-funded digital archive aggregating cultural heritage content from European museums, libraries, and archives. Comparable as a public-interest digital archive platform preserving cultural content with open access — a broader institutional analogue to Forum Permanente's Acervo and Dossiês.
• Google Arts & Culture: Massive-scale digital platform partnering with museums and cultural institutions worldwide to provide open-access content. A broad incumbent in the museum/cultural content digitization space, with which Forum Permanente competes for institutional attention and partnership.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/forum-permanente

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Forum Permanente