Associação Cultural Videobrasil

What Associação Cultural Videobrasil does

Associação Cultural Videobrasil is a private nonprofit cultural association founded in 1983 and headquartered in São Paulo, Brazil, with a core team of approximately 7-12 staff members. The institution promotes video art and contemporary art from the Global South through a biennial festival (22nd edition held in 2023), physical exhibitions at its Galpão VB venue in São Paulo's Vila Leopoldina neighborhood, an artist residency program, and a publications series. Its curatorial frame centers on Southern Hemisphere geopolitical perspectives, with programming reaching artists in 109 countries and connecting Brazilian video art to international circuits in Latin America, Africa, the Middle East, and Europe.

The institution operates a multi-platform archival and distribution infrastructure built around its Acervo (collection) of over 4,500 cataloged items spanning four decades. Digital platforms include Canal VB (an online video channel hosting 675+ videos), Plataforma:VB (a digital research archive), ff»dossier (artist dossiers), and the Coleção de Autores / VCA catalog. Physical infrastructure comprises Galpão VB as exhibition space, supported by ongoing co-programming with Sesc São Paulo. The Cadernos Sesc_Videobrasil publication series (12 volumes) addresses themes including performance, memory, geopolitics, and forced displacement, with collaborators including William Kentridge and Achille Mbembe.

Revenue flows through Brazilian cultural incentive mechanisms (Lei Rouanet and ProAC ICMS, enabling corporate tax deductions up to 4% and individual deductions up to 6%), supplemented by individual donations (VB Partners above R$60), corporate sponsorships (Petrobras confirmed), and institutional co-programming partnerships (Sesc São Paulo as anchor partner). The 2019-founded firmographics data and 1983 founding date reflect operational continuity; the firm is governed by a board under director Solange O. Farkas, with no parent company and no investor capital structure.

Name

Associação Cultural Videobrasil

Legal name

Associação Cultural Videobrasil

Website

https://site.videobrasil.org.br

Company type

Private

Founded year

1983

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Associação Cultural Videobrasil is a São Paulo-based nonprofit founded in 1983 that promotes video art and contemporary art from the Global South through a biennial festival, a 4,500+ item archive, digital platforms, residencies, and publications, serving artists, audiences, and cultural institutions across 109 countries.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Contemporary Art Curation and Cultural Programming

NAICS

Motion Picture and Video Industries (5121)

SIC

Services-Motion Picture & Video Tape Production (7812)

akta.pro primary industry

Media Arts & Film/Photography Nonprofits (BPAGAHAJ)

Keywords

• Video art curation
• Contemporary art exhibitions
• Artist residency programs
• Cultural archive management
• Biennial art festivals

Headquarters

HQ city

São Paulo

HQ country

Brazil

HQ region

Latin America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

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

Revenue model

1. Cultural Incentive Funding: Funded via Lei Federal de Incentivo a Cultura (Lei Rouanet) and ProAC ICMS. Corporate donors can deduct up to 4% of owed taxes, and individuals can deduct up to 6% of owed taxes through the Brazilian cultural incentive system.
2. Individual Donations: Individual donors contribute directly to project bank accounts. Donors above R$ 60 become VB Partners and receive a kit with ecobag, notebook, pencil, and an art book, plus invitations to events.
3. Sesc São Paulo Partnership: Ongoing co-publishing and co-programming partnership with Sesc São Paulo, producing the Cadernos Sesc_Videobrasil publication series and co-presenting the Festival/Biennial.
4. Corporate Sponsorship: Corporate sponsorship packages available at different tiers, with naming rights and brand association with exhibitions and events.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels5 records

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

Associação Cultural Videobrasil is a nonprofit cultural association that organizes a biennial video art festival, runs a physical exhibition space (Galpão VB) in São Paulo, and maintains an archive of more than 4,500 cataloged video works, installations, and publications. It also offers an artist residency program with international exchanges, an online video channel (Canal VB), a digital research platform (PLATAFORMA:VB), and the Cadernos Sesc_Videobrasil publication series produced with Sesc São Paulo.

Product overview

Associação Cultural Videobrasil is a cultural institution operating as a platform-plus-modules architecture centered on the promotion of video art and contemporary art from the Global South. Its core offerings include the Festival/Bienal Sesc_Videobrasil (the flagship recurring event), the Acervo Videobrasil (a collection/archive of over 4,500 catalogued items), and the physical exhibition space Galpão VB in São Paulo. These are complemented by digital platforms — Canal VB (video channel), Plataforma:VB (research platform), and ff»dossier (dossier platform) — and the Programa de Residências (residency program). Supporting these are the Cadernos Sesc_Videobrasil publication series and the Authors Collection (VCA). The institution operates biennial and annual festival editions, manages physical and digital archives, publishes curatorial books, and commissions works from artists across the Global South geopolitical circuit.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Galpão VB: Physical exhibition space operated by the association in São Paulo
• Canal VB
• PLATAFORMA:VB

Products and services

• Festival/Bienal Sesc_Videobrasil Biennial festival dedicated to contemporary art focused on the Global South geopolitical circuit, featuring competitive screenings, exhibitions, public programs, and residency prizes such as the Wexner Center for the Arts award. Targeted at artists, curators, and contemporary art audiences.
• Galpão VB Physical exhibition space in São Paulo hosting rotating exhibitions, performances, screenings, public programs, and curatorial labs related to video art and contemporary art from the Global South. Open to general audiences, artists, and researchers, with most exhibitions free of charge.
• Acervo Videobrasil (Collection) Institutional archive of over 4,500 cataloged items including video artworks, video-installations, performance recordings, publications, and documents spanning decades of video art from Brazil and the Global South. Accessible for in-person research and through digital platforms. Targeted at artists, researchers, and curators.
• Canal VB Digital video channel hosting performances, commented collection entries, testimonies, making-of records, TV series, and public programs from the festival's history. Accessible globally to general audiences, educators, and researchers.
• Plataforma:VB Digital research platform providing online access to the Videobrasil collection for curators, researchers, and institutional partners studying video art history and Global South artistic production.
• Cadernos Sesc_Videobrasil Series of experimental curatorial publications produced in partnership with Sesc São Paulo, created by artists and researchers from different parts of the world, addressing topics such as gender, memory, LGBTQ activism, and geopolitics. Distributed through Sesc units and art bookstores.
• Programa de Residências (Residency Program) Artist residency program offering awards and international exchanges, including the Wexner Center for the Arts residency prize and partnerships such as Videobrasil em Contexto with the Delfina Foundation, A-I-R Laboratory Warsaw, and Casa Tomada, enabling artists to conduct research in the Videobrasil collection and develop new works.
• ff»dossier Online dossier platform presenting artist dossiers and curatorial dossiers, offering digital access to documentation and research materials related to video art and the Videobrasil collection.
• Coleção de Autores (VCA) Digital collection and catalog of authors providing biographical and work-related information about artists in the Videobrasil network, supporting research and curatorial reference.

Quantifiable outcome

• Exhibition 'Videobrasil não precisa de tradução' premiered in Moscow (GES-2 House of Culture) in December 2024, reaching international audiences.
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers2 records

Segments3 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

Twelve partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• GES-2 House of Culture (Moscow, Russia)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 December 2024Partnership for the international exhibition 'Videobrasil não precisa de tradução' which premiered in Moscow in December 2024, bringing Brazilian video art to international audiences and establishing the exhibition's international trajectory.
• A-I-R Laboratory / Centre for Contemporary Art Ujazdowski Castle (Warsaw, Poland)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2016Partnership for the Videobrasil em Contexto #2 residency program. Artists Karol Radziszewski and Vitor Cesar participated in a two-week initial visit followed by three months of residency, with the resulting works displayed at Galpão VB.
• Culture.pl / Adam Mickiewicz Institute (Poland)minorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2016Partner supporting the Videobrasil em Contexto #2 residency program as part of the Polish culture promotion program in Brazil organized by Culture.pl.
• THAT ART FAIR / ART AFRICA (Cape Town, South Africa)coreGTM or Marketing Partner · 1 January 2016Partnership presenting works from the Videobrasil collection at the THAT ART FAIR and THAT FILM FOCUS cinema festival in Cape Town, South Africa. The program 'Quando o Cruzeiro do Sul fala' showcased 11 works from the collection.
• shnit International ShortFilmFestivalminorGTM or Marketing Partner · 1 January 2016Co-organizer of the THAT FILM FOCUS cinema festival within THAT ART FAIR in Cape Town, 2016.
• Sunshine CinemaminorGTM or Marketing Partner · 1 January 2016Co-organizer of the THAT FILM FOCUS cinema festival within THAT ART FAIR in Cape Town, 2016.
• Casa Tomada (São Paulo, Brazil)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2016Partner in the Videobrasil em Contexto residency program, hosting artist Mahmoud Khaled in São Paulo during his research period in the Videobrasil collection.
• SP-Arte (São Paulo Art Fair)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2015Partnership launching the 1st Prêmio SP-Arte/Videobrasil award, a special prize within the 19th Festival to support young artists. The winner (Haroon Gunn-Salie) received a production residency and exhibition at Galpão VB.
• WRO Biennale (Wroclaw, Poland)minorGTM or Marketing Partner · 1 January 2015Videobrasil collection presented at the 16th WRO Biennale for Media Art, featuring works by Letícia Ramos and Luiz Roque, marking strengthening ties with the Polish art circuit.
• Delfina Foundation (London, UK)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2012Partnership for the Videobrasil em Contexto residency program. The Delfina Foundation hosted artists in London as part of the residency cycle, allowing artists to research the Videobrasil collection and develop new works.
• Sesc São PaulocoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerLongstanding co-publishing partnership producing the Cadernos Sesc_Videobrasil publication series (12 volumes). Sesc-SP is also co-presenter of the Festival/Biennial, providing venue support (Sesc Pompeia) and institutional backing for exhibitions and programs.
• Museu de Arte Contemporânea da USP (MAC USP)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartnership for the Brazilian presentation of 'Videobrasil não precisa de tradução' exhibition opening November 2026 at MAC USP, featuring expanded scope with historical works from the 1970s.

Scale indicators6 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Internationale Kurzfilmtage Oberhausen: Oberhausen International Short Film Festival is a directly comparable peer in the international short film / video art festival ecosystem, with similar curatorial scope and a longer-running institutional history in the moving-image festival space.
• Havana Biennial (Bienal de La Habana): Havana Biennial is a directly comparable peer as a Latin American / Global South–focused recurring contemporary art biennial with comparable curatorial ambition and overlapping artist communities across the Southern Hemisphere.
• European Media Art Festival (EMAF): EMAF in Osnabrück, Germany is a directly comparable peer — an annual international festival of media art and video with comparable curatorial scope, exhibition programming, and artist support model.
• Kassel Dokumentarfilm- und Videofest: Kassel video art and documentary film festival is a directly comparable peer in the international video art festival circuit, with similar focus on curated moving-image works, public programs, and artist development.
• Dak'Art — Biennale of Contemporary African Art: Dak'Art is a directly comparable peer as a recurring international contemporary art biennial with an explicit Global South geographic focus, comparable curatorial scale, and overlapping artist networks — including overlapping partnership activity (Videobrasil collection presented at THAT ART FAIR Cape Town).
• WRO Biennale (WRO Art Center): WRO Biennale for Media Art in Wrocław, Poland is a directly comparable peer: a recurring international festival focused on media and video art that Videobrasil has already partnered with (works presented at the 16th WRO Biennale). Both curate and exhibit contemporary media art on a multi-year cadence.
• Videonale — Festival für Video und digitale Kunst: Bonn-based international video art festival (Videonale) is a directly comparable biennial peer dedicated to video and digital art curation, exhibition, and artist support — operating in a similar biennial cadence with comparable curatorial and exhibition scope.

Broad incumbents

• Itaú Cultural: Itaú Cultural is a broad-incumbent peer as a major Brazilian private cultural institution funding and programming contemporary art, research, and exhibitions; operates at significantly larger scale with a broader thematic mandate, and competes for the same Brazilian corporate sponsorship and cultural incentive funding pool.
• Fundação Bienal de São Paulo: São Paulo Biennial Foundation is a broad-incumbent peer as Brazil's flagship contemporary art biennial, operating a larger-scale general contemporary art program in the same city; partially overlapping audience and donor base but broader and more established than Videobrasil's video-art specialization.
• Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía: Reina Sofía is a broad-incumbent peer as a major museum with a significant video art and contemporary media collection, comparable archival and exhibition activities, and international curatorial authority — operating at substantially larger scale and with broader institutional mandate than Videobrasil.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/videobrasil
• YouTubeyoutube.com/channel/UC-zNq5fU2e5SkY7ClBzGiZw
• Facebookfacebook.com/ACVideobrasil
• Instagraminstagram.com/videobrasil
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/videobrasil

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles7 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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M&A

Investments

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Frequently asked questions about Associação Cultural Videobrasil