Associação Casa Azul is a non-profit organization based in Paraty in the state of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Its goal is to promote the sustainable development of Paraty through urban revitalization, preservation of the local heritage and the region’s natural ecosystems, the encouragement of sensitive ecotourism as well as the protection and development of traditional communities
Brazil’s biggest literary event, FLIP (Festa Literária Internacional de Paraty), was inaugurated in 2003, the first such cultural event in South America. Its primary goal is to raise levels of awareness abroad of Brazil’s rich literary and cultural output, by bringing leading writers from overseas to meet Brazil’s top authors and their reading public. FLIP was an immediate hit with Brazilian media and public alike, and the four-day event now typically attracts in excess of 20,000 visitors to a town of 25,000 inhabitants, making a huge impact on Paraty’s economy.