The Cultural Guide of Villages and Favelas is the result of a field research made between 2002 and 2004 that identified and registered 740 cultural groups among more than 500 thousand persons that live on the villages and favelas of Belo Horizonte. The word was made on 226 villages, favelas and projects of the capital of Minas Gerais’ State.The Guide tells that the cultural activities bring together about seven thousand persons from the villages and favelas. The musical groups reach 39% of the number, with a special highlight for RAP groups and singers, funk, pagoda, forró (style of rhythmic Brazilian ballroom dance) and evangelic. The handcrafting occupies the second plane on the ranking, responsible for 24% of the studied groups and artists.The dancing and the plastic arts add up 13% of the registered, especially with the capoeira, street dance, design and graffiti, respectively. Theater, literature, folklore, religiousness and musical arts were identified as the less productive, but they have their representatives.From all the groups and artists researched, only 20% live of art and culture, the other 80% have their “official job” to live and maintain their artistic productions.After mapping the art groups and manifestations, the Guide also mapped the communication vehicles from the villages and favelas, and found 28 communitarian radio stations, 11 newspapers, two fanzines and two other informal communication vehicles.With the publishing of the research on an software format became possible to update it in real time, and facilitated its consulting by the public, of the villages and favelas’ cultural dynamics.Nowadays the Cultural Guide of Villages and Favelas is depleted for selling, and is being updated.