Alcoa Brazil welcomes thousands to one of the Juruti region’s biggest cultural events

The 30th edition of the Juruti Indigenous Tribes Folk Festival “Festribal” brought around 30,000 people to the José Priante Cultural Center to watch performances of the Munduruku and Muirapinima tribes.

The event is one of the biggest and most significant cultural events in the Amazon – the two tribes presenting an open-air spectacle through artistic duels, dances and indigenous songs. Festribal, which took place July 31 to August 3, is considered an important event for encouraging tourism in the region of Brazil.

Over four nights of festivities, some highlights included a visitors’ party with national attractions, entertainment from the children’s tribes for kids in the region and the official performance on the final day.

As a primary sponsor, Alcoa invited several company leaders to the festival. Helio Lazarim, Operations Director of Juruti, highlighted Alcoa’s encouragement of cultural projects worldwide. "It's part of Alcoa's philosophy to generate value and foster culture, education and social development in the regions where we are present," Lazarim said.

Alcoa Brazil's Government Relations Manager Juliana Noronha took part in the celebrations for the first time and was delighted with the richness of the local culture, saying Alcoa’s sponsorship can help “contribute directly to the cultural and socio-economic development of the region.”

"The sum of the efforts of the board of directors, the art council, the fans, the families and the players was the fundamental factor in achieving this third championship,” said Alex Guedes, president of the Munduruku tribe. “The victory is the fruit of a lot of work, love and unity, including the partners who help us put on this great event, such as Alcoa.”

Sandro Silva, president of the Muirapinima tribe, is already planning the next stages.

"The feeling is one of duty done and objectives achieved, regardless of the result outside the arena,” Silva said. “The next step is to continue organizing the process. From October we'll be thinking about the new format."