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Feb 05
2010
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Just one week before Rio Carnival, and the samba schools of Grupo Especial are well ahead in their preparations. Last year at this time some schools were in a state of panic, with no money left and many floats and costumes still to prepare.
This year there has been an extra injection of money which has smoothed things along. Petrobas, the Brazilian multinational, has donated 12 million reals - thats one million for each samba school - in their project `Samba Carioca is a cultural inheritance of Brazil´
The money is partially for the samba school parades, but part of it is marked for use in the cultural and educational activities that every samba school carries out in its home district.
Each samba school is also receiving R$750,000 from Rio´s City Hall, and one million from the federal government. As well as this the schools receive some money from the sales of the Grupo Especial CD (much reduced this year because of rabid internet piracy), and money from the sale of tickets in the sambadromo, money from the open rehearsals that the schools run on Friday and saturday nights. And there´s also private sponsorship, both officially from companies, and unnoficially from local gangsters and bicheiros (illegal lottery organisers).
