Creative Economy Strategist, Cultural Curator, Policy Advisor

Associate Director, Garimpo de Soluções – Brazil

Alejandro Castañé is a driving force in Latin America’s creative economy field — a strategic thinker, facilitator, and curator who blends technical expertise with cultural intuition. His work spans from building place-based creative strategies to curating platforms for civic imagination, helping transform how regions define their identity, economy, and future.

As Associate Director at Garimpo de Soluções, Brazil’s pioneer consultancy in cultural and creative development, Alejandro co-leads national and international projects that reframe culture as a tool for economic transformation and emotional belonging. His core mission: to turn creative potential into public value — especially in overlooked or historically marginalized territories.

A Career Built at the Crossroads

Alejandro’s trajectory sits at the intersection of:

• Creative economy policy
• Cultural entrepreneurship
• Territorial identity and storytelling
• Urban innovation and participatory planning
• Public-private design of cultural strategies

With over 15 years of experience, he has worked with public institutions, cultural networks, NGOs, global competitions, and private foundations across Brazil and internationally. His work is rooted in one central idea: every place has stories worth telling — and economies worth unlocking.

Flagship Projects

Alejandro has served as coordinator, co-author, or content curator for dozens of initiatives that bridge research, policy, entrepreneurship, and public narrative. His projects are known for fusing data with empathy, participation with precision. Notable highlights include:

• Território Criativo DF (2018) – A creative entrepreneurship activation across 14 regions of the Brazilian capital, spotlighting and supporting local makers and cultural leaders.
• Mapa de Energia Criativa (EDP, 2023) – A regional mapping of 100 creative businesses across 17 cities in São Paulo’s Vale do Paraíba, for visibility, advocacy, and investment attraction.
• Marca-Território Vale do Jequitinhonha (Sebrae MG, 2020–21) – A groundbreaking participatory branding process decoding the emotional and cultural universe of rural artisan women in one of Brazil’s poorest regions.
• Dá Gosto Ser do Ribeira (Sebrae SP, 2020) – The first regional creative economy plan in Brazil, built from grassroots interviews and co-creation labs. The project was awarded by the Government of São Paulo and presented at Expo Dubai as a model for integrating sustainability, culture, and entrepreneurship.
• Strategic Diversification Study for Itabira (UNESCO, 2021) – A pilot project for transforming a mining-dependent city through cultural and creative industries.
• Paranapiacaba Plan (Brasil Restauro, 2021) – A regeneration blueprint for one of Brazil’s most historically significant railway villages, blending heritage tourism and creative economy.

Across all of these, Alejandro worked as a method designer, cultural translator, and story-holder — ensuring that strategies didn’t just meet KPIs but resonated deeply with the people who would live them.

Public Engagement & Creative Platforms

Alejandro is not only a behind-the-scenes strategist — he’s also a public convener, curator, and speaker, skilled at hosting high-impact conversations that challenge, provoke, and connect. He has conceived and led numerous public platforms that explore the future of cities, work, and culture, including:

• Sampa CriAtiva (2013): A civic innovation platform supported by FecomercioSP, SESC, and SENAC
• Hackeando Futuros (2019–2020): A bold series of monthly meetings on futuring, creativity, and system change, hosted at Estação Hack
• Interativicidade Talks (2018–19): Talks on creative media and public space hosted by Otima OOH
• Arena de Economia Criativa – Farol Santander (2018): Co-creator of two programs for young entrepreneurs: Meu Futuro é Agora and Diálogos Startupeiros

He also served as Executive Director of OpenCity Lab, a platform that champions open urban innovation, and organized the Brazilian edition of the Creative Business Cup (2017–18), the global competition for creative startups based in Copenhagen.

Storytelling & Audiovisual Leadership

Alejandro currently leads the audiovisual arm of Garimpo de Soluções, where he produces content that honors the people, places, and creative spark behind their projects. He directed the “Pepitas do Ribeira” (2022) series — a documentary project capturing the everyday brilliance of creative entrepreneurs in the Ribeira Valley, linking territorial pride with economic imagination.

His work merges visual storytelling, policy insights, and emotional intelligence — offering tools for decision-makers and citizens alike to re-see their own potential.

Methodology & Belief System

What defines Alejandro’s method is not just what he does, but how he does it:

• Deep immersion and listening in territories
• Participatory co-creation workshops with real community voice
• Integration of emotional, symbolic, and economic layers in strategy
• Advocacy for creative entrepreneurs as catalysts of well-being and sustainability
• Consistent effort to translate complexity into clarity — for both policy and people

He believes creativity is not a luxury or trend — it’s infrastructure for the future, especially in places where traditional industries are fading or where structural inequalities have long gone unaddressed.

Recognitions & Legacy Work

Alejandro’s recent body of work — especially through co-led projects at Garimpo — has received national and international attention:

• Finalist – Jabuti Award (2021) in Creative Economy, for Dá Gosto Ser do Ribeira
• Winner – São Paulo State Government Prize (2021) in Creative Economy
• Expo Dubai (2021–22) – Project featured as Brazilian best practice in territorial creative economy
• Pepitas do Ribeira (2022) – Recognized as a model for regional storytelling and visibility of underrepresented communities

Personal Perspective

A natural bridge-builder, Alejandro moves seamlessly between academic rooms, grassroots settings, and international stages — but his grounding is always the same: culture matters, and people matter more. He believes in slowing down to listen, building coalitions from the ground up, and leading with both mind and heart.

He is based in São Paulo and works across Brazil, Latin America, and beyond.