This thesis focuses on a qualitative analysis of the processes undertaken by the federal program Cultura Viva in the last two presidential administrations (Ministry of Culture, Brazil). The social role played by the author in this process as participant, observer and as a researcher, allowed her to analyze the program s capacities as well as its limitations and challenges. The program was centered on the Pontos de Cultura (Points of Culture) or the loci of cultural activities. The work stemmed from the idea of thoughts and movements that mobilized intellectuals, artists and activists in Brazil since the Modernist period. This idea also served as a foundation from which certain cultural perspectives emerged. This foundation, which preceded the current program, was also analyzed using the concepts of diversity, intercultural criticism, power relations and experience as a counterpoint to the risk of the instrumentalization of culture. Cultura Viva is a large and diverse program that supports and promotes cultural initiatives. It is present in almost all the states of Brazil. Another aspect of the Cultura Viva program in the analysis was the collective experience based on the political mobilization generated by the Pontos de Cultura, the Regional and National Pontos de Cultura (TEIAS), and the Ponto de Cultura s Forum of the States of Rio de Janeiro and Espírito Santo. The bureaucratic nature of the way in which the state organized and financed cultural activities were challenged during the period under study to provide greater opportunities and increase access to public resources, thus guaranteeing the right to cultural expressions. Disputes and economic interests in the state apparatus became strained and became a major challenge facing the viability of the Cultura Viva program. However, results indicated that shared cultural experiences that produce movement, restlessness and reflection by establishing themselves through collective action somehow reinvent life by confronting contradictions and social inequality. The Cultura Viva program not only placed culture on the agenda against the unfair distribution of public resources, but also favored the expansion and diversity of artistic and cultural expressions while recognizing the potential of each locality. In sum, explicit conflicts and coping may lead to changes in the relations between various interests and the State, especially when the objective is to overcome strictly functional and integrative dimensions of public policy.