In the doctoral research to which this work is linked, I investigate a network of social projects that operate under the premise of producing a social impact through the teaching of music in various regions of Brazil. Despite the fact that the projects studied carry out activities that are quite different from each other, the presence of the rhetoric of transformation as a dynamizer of their practices is something that goes along them. The rhetoric of transformation is not exclusive to social projects that work with music, but to a whole field of action that encompasses a broader notion of culture at the service of social development. In the case of the Sinfonia do Amanhã Platform, the relationships established between the social projects and the financing entity, Enel, are based on a corporate action methodology called Shared Value Creation, which considers that, for the management of the linked social projects to be strategic, they must generate shared value, that is, economic and marketing value for the company and social value for the community where it operates. Thus, based on an ethnographic research of this network in Brazil, this paper draws on the intrications of different actors in producing “social impact” through the creation of cultural projects, stressing how local practices and movements are articulated to fit a development agenda, in order to be supported by the state and/or concerned companies, observing with special attention the terms employed in the making of this relationship between the business world and the artistic world, considering that, in this process, their own artistic practices need to be reshaped and/or rebranded, conveying an appealing narrative to funders and donners.
