Paula Azevedo leads the Inhotim 2030 project to ensure the museum’s financial sustainability

Paula Azevedo arrived at Instituto Inhotim in 2022 to guarantee the entity's financial health. The plan is part of the Inhotim 2030 project, aimed at organizing the governance, sustainability and preservation of the largest open-air museum in the world.

For 16 years, the place depended solely on the contributions of its creator: mining businessman Bernardo Paz.

She took on the role of CEO to diversify revenue, but without forgetting to offer freebies on Wednesdays and the last Sunday of each month. When defending the measure, she quotes a phrase from Ricardo Ohtake, president of the board of the Tomie Ohtake Institute: "the admission fee changes the color of the queue."

How did the Inhotim 2030 project come about? It started in 2022, following a call from Bernardo Paz to think about the financial sustainability of the institute, regardless of his personal contributions, which were very significant and linked to his private collection. We arrived in 2026 with the celebration of Instituto Inhotim's 20th anniversary, strongly focused on our vision of the future.

How is the budget structured and what is the ideal financial sustainability model? Our global budget is R$90 million. Currently, 50% comes from contributions via the Rouanet Law, which continues to be a fundamental tool. But we seek diversification. The ideal model we aim for for financial balance is the division into three equal parts: 1/3 of our own income, 1/3 of donations and 1/3 of our own financial support. Today, our own revenue is at 18% and our plan is to increase it to close to 30%, maintaining between 35% and 38% via the Rouanet Law and the remainder spread across other sources. We are building an emergency cash reserve equivalent to one year of operations to protect us against economic crises, combined with a continuous cost control exercise.

What are the institute’s main sources of generating its own revenue? We focus on maximizing our own revenue through box office, events, food and licensed products. We reopened all food points in the park, including a relevant partnership with Grupo Capim Santo, which operates two key spaces. We identified a huge demand to increase the number of corporate and social events. This aspect gains traction with the reopening and expansion of inns and hotels in the region. Our institutional store became a reference in the museum sector: in 2022, it had revenues of R$3 million per year; today, it is close to R$8 million.

How does the relationship with sponsors work? We propose to partners a model focused on flexible counterpart "features", aligned with the pillars of art, education or nature. We maintain long-term contracts that guarantee stability and financial planning: Vale acts as our sponsor in a ten-year contract, valid until 2032, while partners such as Grupo Ultra, Cemig and Nubank have four-year contracts. This long-term funding model gives us the security necessary to execute the Inhotim 2030 plan without depending on fluctuations in the corporate market.

How does Inhotim position itself in relation to other major cultural institutions? We differentiate ourselves from other large cultural institutions by being a destination museum and not a transit museum. The visitor plans specifically to go to Inhotim.

What is the economic and social impact of Inhotim for Brumadinho and the region? Inhotim has established itself as a driver of regional tourism. Every R$1 invested in Inhotim generates a return of R$1.60 to the local economy.