When people think of creative cities, they often picture Portland or Asheville—places where art, music, and innovation are easy to spot. Santa Rita do Sapucaí, a Brazilian town with fewer than 45,000 residents in the Mantiqueira Mountains, seems unremarkable at first. In the state of Minas Gerais, a few hours from São Paulo, it leaves a modest first impression: everyday people, quiet streets, and fading murals. No skyline of cultural institutions. No visible creative industry. Yet beneath the surface, it has become one of the most complex and ambitious experiments in the creative economy in Latin America.
Long known as the Valley of Electronics, the town has been shaped by three key institutions: INATEL, a top tech university and research center; ETE FMC, the first electronics trade school in South America; and FAI, a local community college focused on business and software development. With more than 170 companies and dozens of R&D offices for global firms, Santa Rita built a legacy in applied technology. But over the past decade, a quieter shift has taken hold—driven by code, coffee, design, and a strong sense of community collaboration.
The shift began in 2012, when grassroots activists launched Creative City, Happy City, an independent effort to bring culture, technology, and innovation into everyday life. Civic and business leaders soon joined in, and over time, the local government became an active supporter. More than a decade later, Santa Rita stands as a layered example of how creative economies can grow outside major cities—through depth, not spectacle.
A clear sign of this shift is HackTown, a decentralized festival that turns the city into a circuit of ideas. Coffee shops become classrooms. Garages host talks. Two historic theaters—each located on a major tech campus—anchor a program that blends art, activism, technology, and entrepreneurship. “HackTown brings together both the creative and tech sides of the town,” said co-founder João Rubens Costa. “It’s about making the invisible visible.”
For 2025, organizers expect the festival to draw more than 30,000 people—nearly matching the town’s population. To make this possible, HackTown has partnered with nearby towns, especially for lodging, while staying mindful of Santa Rita’s physical and cultural limits.
“People think HackTown is the story,” said Emily Navarro, PhD, a sociologist and expert on the creative economy in Latin America. “But that’s just the surface. The real work happens over time—in backyards, in memories, in contradictions.”
Projects like Grandpa Joel’s Coffee reflect how the shift has taken root. Inspired by a talk from a Colombian brand strategist during the early days of Creative City, a local couple turned inherited coffee farms—once without a clear future—into an internationally recognized business. Just days ago, they were featured at Coffee Week NYC. Their downtown café also serves as a vinyl listening space, while their farm offers tastings, eco-lodging, and partnerships with nearby producers.
Equally emblematic is Pós-Doc, a small brewery founded by a psychologist and a biologist. They combine local ingredients with modern brewing techniques to create unique beers. The space also hosts live music and casual talks on science, art, and community.
Food and drink are central to the town’s creative identity. Don Rafoni, a Texas-style barbecue spot founded by a returning expat, blends smoked meats with regional ingredients and posts the hometowns of his guests each day. Chapa Haus, run by a young entrepreneur, combines burgers, DJs, and local art in a design-forward space. Braga Bistro, opened by a chef who moved back from São Paulo, serves signature dishes rooted in local ingredients. Dullê and Casa do Pi reinterpret classic recipes and pair them with regional wines.
The town’s food scene reflects its roots. The pão cheio—a soft bread stuffed with pork sausage and cheese—is a local favorite and part of the cultural heritage of Minas Gerais. Linguiça de varal, a pork sausage naturally cured with only salt, is served year-round and celebrated each August. Santa Rita is also known for doce de leite, a slow-cooked milk caramel made in copper pots on family farms, and for regional craft cheeses found in cafes and local markets.
Empório da Cachaça offers sugarcane spirits from local producers. Nano Coffee Lab combines barista skills with underground art in a cozy setting. Wood ‘n’ Coffee crafts cups from repurposed coffee wood. ACS Beer, made in a retired professor’s backyard, holds monthly pop-ups with live music and changing locations. Just outside town, No Trabalho Bar turns a coffee farm into a weekend spot for food, music, and mountain views.
Creative tourism is growing. Olhe Bem as Montanhas, a local platform, guides visitors to lesser-known spots like Café Condado, a specialty coffee farm in the Serra do Balaio. The tour includes a walk through the fields, a tasting at 3,600 feet, and a visit to the Cafetellier, a small roastery started by Anna Openheimer, who moved from the historic town of Ouro Preto after being inspired by the local scene. As in much of Santa Rita, the value isn’t obvious at first—but it reveals itself to those who pay attention.
Every Sunday, a farm-to-table fair brings fresh produce downtown, and programs like Sabores do Vale train chefs and food entrepreneurs, hold year-round events, and feature regional musicians. Sapucaí Criativos offers theater classes that mix performance with other forms of artistic expression, organizing productions across the city. Student invention fairs now also include local food and live music, further weaving culture into everyday community life.
Santa Rita’s Carnival also reflects the town’s dual character. Bloco do Urso, one of the region’s biggest events, bridges pop culture and local tradition, bringing major artists while supporting local performers who run smaller events year-round. Historic parades like Ride Palhaço, a clown-themed procession, and Democráticos, rooted in brass bands and politics, have been revived. New ones like A Vaca da Batucada, the drumming cow, blend rural imagery, hip hop, and protest—turning Carnival into both a celebration and a statement.
Women are at the center of much of this transformation. The Women Coffee Entrepreneurs Network, now with over 150 members, meets at Pousada do Barão, a restored colonial inn that serves as a hub for local food and cultural programs. SIS Coworking connects remote professionals and creative workers. The Associação José do Patrocínio supports Black-led projects and promotes decolonial perspectives. Local consultancy Clear Purpose helps businesses align with community values.
At The Town, a community-owned pub, locals gather over food, cocktails, and old photos—a quiet symbol of where memory and reinvention meet. After a long break, TEDx is coming back, and while Startup Weekend hasn’t happened since 2018, new ideas keep emerging. Some early projects faded, others grew, and even global formats are returning, reshaped to fit the town’s rhythm and voice.
Challenges remain—homelessness, loss of historic buildings, limited public transportation, and cultural tensions—but the community is stepping up. Two bilingual schools with creativity-based programs have opened in underserved neighborhoods. A public tech incubator has expanded to support creative ventures. A 1960s theater is being turned into a cultural center. The old bus station will become a design space, and the closed train station a music school. The riverbank and central market are being renewed, and the public museum, recently restored, now features exhibits focused on memory and local identity.
More and more, the local government is starting to recognize the strength of this grassroots movement and is slowly learning how to support it in a consistent and meaningful way.
“Santa Rita challenges the long-held idea that small towns need to limit their ambitions,” said Nathaniel Brooks, a Boston-based urban strategist. “It’s built something bigger than itself, driven by education and creativity—even if that’s hard to see at first.”
That vision earned Santa Rita unexpected recognition at the Big Towns Summit, a national event in Louisiana that highlights innovation in mid-sized cities. Despite its smaller size, the town was named a standout in post-industrial development, with some speakers mentioning it in their talks.
“Santa Rita doesn’t reveal itself at first glance,” said Clara Levinson, PhD, a researcher at Stanford. “Its creativity takes shape in quiet ways and in layers that only emerge when you look closely.”
A small place with big ideas—and even deeper roots. Nothing here is made to impress. No flashy shows, no grand gestures. Just people creating what matters, at their own pace, in their own way. And that’s exactly what makes it remarkable.
