Street basketball courts are part of people’s lives. They are in the neighborhoods, in the centers, in childhood and youth and, therefore, end up becoming more than a place to play basketball. But if, on the one hand, the court is synonymous with leisure, culture, music and a sense of community, it is also a highly sought after space by the real estate market. After all, it’s 420m2 flat terrain that could give way to new parking lots and buildings.
Unfortunately, when a court is destroyed, not only 420 m are lost.2, but all the culture that surrounds it and, therefore, Budweiser, an NBA partner and one of the spokespersons for basketball in Brazil, decided to act. The brand found a loophole in the Brazilian Tombamento Law nº 25/1937, which says: “a place of public interest with artistic value is considered public heritage and cannot be demolished”.
Entitled “Indestructible Blocks”, the initiative created by the Africa agency contemplates the realization of an artistic project, with cultural relevance to the place, in a street block. With the project completed, it is possible to enter a tipping order*. For this, Budweiser summarized the process in five steps, described on the Indestructible Courts website: 1) Choose a public basketball court; 2) Find a topic relevant to the local culture; 3) Select an artist; 4) Budweiser connects the artist, the court and you; 5) Enter the tipping request.
André Mota, Budweiser brand strategy manager at Ambev, comments:
“This is an extremely relevant project, which empowers people to demand what is theirs by law. Every day that passes it is more common to see abandoned courts, without care or lighting. People don’t deserve this neglect, they deserve culture and leisure.”
The pilot project, successfully carried out on a court in Natal, RN, showed the initiative’s potential for transformation. Budweiser invited a local artist, who created an art honoring one of the main Brazilian basketball players, also born in the city, Oscar Schmidt.
After the completion of the work, the request for heritage protection was made and taken to the secretary of culture with the mayor. Today, the court is already considered a cultural heritage and cannot be demolished. From now on, it will only serve for leisure, entertainment, culture and even as a tourist spot in the city.
About 16 blocks have already been registered on the website, which are now in the process of receiving an artist and being transformed. In Mooca, a traditional neighborhood in the city of São Paulo, SP, a block has just been completed.
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