Festivals: Literary

Flip - Festa Literária Internacional de Paraty

Brazil's renowned literary festival and one of the world's leading international literary events, held annually in the UNESCO World Heritage town of Paraty.

Event coordinator

2016–2019 / São Paulo and Paraty, Brazil

For three consecutive editions, I served as Head Event Coordinator at Flip - Festa Literária Internacional de Paraty Since 2003, the literary festival has been held annually in the UNESCO World Heritage Site of the Historic Centre of Paraty. During its five-day program, the festival welcomes 25,000 visitors from around the world to attend lectures, participate in debates, celebrate book launches, enjoy music concerts, and take part in many simultaneous activities across multiple venues, particularly in the streets and squares of this seaside colonial city with its distinctive cobblestone streets. The festival was conceived by the British editor and publisher Liz Calder and the Brazilian architect Mauro Munhoz, inspired by the Hay Festival in Wales.

Architecture is this festival's fundamental and unique quality for understanding, interpreting, and creating in Paraty's material and cultural territory. A bilateral team produces the festival from São Paulo and Paraty (270 km apart) in a year-round remote collaboration.

Over time, Flip has evolved and adopted many different spatial configurations; lately, the central installations include two auditoriums for leading literary events, one bookshop, and an open-air library for children. In this portfolio, I present the three editions of Flip I worked on: 2017 (featuring Lima Barreto, curated by Joselia Aguiar), 2018 (featuring Hilda Hilst, curated by Joselia Aguiar), and 2019 (featuring Euclides da Cunha, curated by Fernanda Diamant). The photo credits are mine or from the festival's official photographer, Mr. Walter Craveiro, and his team.

The historic center of Paraty: Flip's territory

Paraty's historic neighborhood activities during the 2018 festival. The official venues are in orange, and all coexisting activities are in blue

An illustration of Flip 2017 spatial configuration: the bookshop, the main auditorium in the Matriz church, the open-air seats, and the children's library.
Above, the open-air seats

The main auditorium in the Matriz church
Flip 2017

Mata da Corda lecture video with authors Grada Kilomba and Kalaf Epalanga, and Lilia Schwarcz as mediator

Lima Barreto: triste visionário, opening night performance with Lázaro Ramos

Side by side, the open-air seats and main auditorium
Flip 2019

Building the main auditorium

Open-air seats

The open-air seats are always free of charge. Its stage hosts talks, theater, and musical events. Its audience enjoys all main auditorium literary lectures broadcast in real-time with simultaneous interpretation

A pele que habito lecture with Joana Gorjão Henriques and Lázaro Ramos and a festival patron testimony, Mrs. Guimarães

The bookstore

The children's library

Signage

Throughout the city, the signage is carefully designed and placed

In Paraty, the festival is everywhere

The streets of Paraty

A selection of making of images

Accomplished as event coordinator at Flip

Leader of the transition to a new digital ticketing service
Successful implementation of improved procurement practices by internal stakeholders
Coordination of internal and external stakeholders logistics - people, supplies, equipment. Large vehicle circulation and parking plan
Coordination of hospitality team in charge of guest travel, local transportation, food, lodging, and experience
Event insurance acquisition process
In charge of data collection - before, during, and after the festival - to evaluate the event's successes and oversights; information gathering for the annual report
Responsible for leading and planning internal and external stakeholder meetings in-company and on-site technical visits
Restructured how the internal stakeholders organize, share, and report data on the festival's daily progress; developed documents and methods (mainly digital)
Prepared all Flip's legal paperwork for the Event Permit for municipal, state, and federal authorities
Became a specialist in organizing social events, lectures, and writer's roundtables
Alongside coordinators of other Flip departments:

> Coordinated event's main schedule (Gantt); established significant deadlines in synch with general management and overall planning goals

> Managed event's budget, delivered reports on expenses (before, during, and after the festival); composed, kept, and reconciled financial reports; conducted bids (RFP)

Flip's team, 2017

Paraty's tides

Paraty's historic center streets were built to be washed by the sea tides.

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