I am writing to inform you, with deep regret and sadness, that the Brazilian - American Cultural Institute will be closing its doors on January 31, 2008. 

BACI has operated for nearly 45 years as a non-profit organization devoted to the promotion of cultural exchange between Brazil and the United States.  As such, BACI has relied on the financial assistance of the Government of Brazil in order to pursue its mission.  Unfortunately, the Government of Brazil has elected to discontinue all financial support for BACI in 2008. BACI’s income producing activities, such as offering Portuguese language, dance and Brazilian civilization courses, are simply insufficient to sustain the expense of maintaining a high profile cultural office in a prominent location in Washington D.C.  As a result, BACI has no choice other than to close its doors.

The cultural events scheduled for January, 2008 will proceed as planned.  No new memberships are being accepted and no membership dues will be accepted for 2008. 

As a way of expressing gratitude for your many years of loyalty and support for our activities, BACI will be hosting a sale of artwork on January 7, 8 and 9.  The sale will be conducted from 9:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. on those dates.  We welcome you to attend the sale if you plan on being in the Washington area on those dates. 

On a personal note, I have been the Executive Director of BACI since 1970.  I was originally posted here by the Brazilian Ministry of Foreign Affairs (“Itamaraty”) in order to promote Brazilian music, arts and culture in the United States.  I want to express my personal thanks to each and every BACI member for your loyalty and support over these many years.  With your help, I believe BACI has been able to achieve its mission of promoting Brazilian culture and art.  While BACI may be missed, I am quite sure it will not be soon forgotten by those thousands of members and their friends who have attended our many concerts, screenings, scholarly lectures and art exhibits over these many years.