São Paulo, Brazil’s richest city, has no money to celebrate street carnival in July

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – In a statement the authorities of the wealthiest city in Brazil mentioned that two tenders were held to find sponsors for the festival, but there were no interested parties. One of the tenders was held on June 17, and the minimum bid of R$10 (US$1.8) million was for 300 blocks.

On Thursday (7/7), another tender worth R$6 million was issued for 216 organizations. “In both cases, however, there was no interest from private companies to finance the event,” he said.

City Hall also announced that the Municipal Secretariat of Culture will organize the 2023 Street Carnival.

Here is the full note:

“São Paulo City Hall announces that the Esquenta Carnaval 2022 has been canceled due to lack of sponsors. The initiative stems from a request by the society to hold an off-season carnival after the street carnival was canceled due to the pandemic. The planning included several meetings with representatives of the carnival blocks to find, in a short time, a viable model to meet the desire of the population to celebrate one of the most important popular festivals of Brazilian culture in this period of resumption of major events.”

“For such an initiative, unprecedented in the history of São Paulo Carnival, to be realized, sponsorship was required. For this reason, City Hall issued a public notice with an auction on June 17 and a minimum bid of R$10 million to accommodate the more than 300 blocos that expressed interest. Subsequently, City Hall held a new auction on Thursday, July 7, with a bid of R$6 million, adjusting the offer to the unique number of 216 qualified blocos.

“In both cases, however, there was no interest from private companies to finance the event,” the note said.

“The Municipal Secretariat of Culture will be the organizer of the 2023 Carnival and will form a representative commission with the street blocks to make next year’s event the biggest and best street carnival in history.”