Professor Domicio Coutinho graduated in Theology from Gregorian University in Rome and received another advanced degree in Anglo-Saxon languages in Brazil. He later received a Ph.D. in Comparative Literature from the City University of New York (CUNY)

On December 4, 2004 an association of various UBENY (Brazilian Writers Association of New York) members founded the Brazilian Endowment for the Arts (BEA).  >> read more

Founded in 2004, the Brazilian Endowment for the Arts (BEA) is a 501(c)(3) non-profit foundation located in Manhattan and dedicated to the advancement ...  >> read more

Domício Coutinho, the founder of the Union of Brazilian Writers Association of New York (UBENY) and the Brazilian Endowment for the Arts (BEA)... >> read more

The Brazilian Endowment for the Arts' founders and Advisory Board... >> read more

Domício Coutinho, the founder of the Union of Brazilian Writers Association of New York (UBENY) and the Brazilian Endowment for the Arts (BEA), is a writer and teacher who has lived in New York for 50 plus years. Professor Coutinho graduated in Theology from Gregorian University in Rome and received another advanced degree in Anglo-Saxon languages in Brazil. He later received a Ph.D. in Comparative Literature from the City University of New York (CUNY). After living in New York for decades, Coutinho founded UBENY in 1999, which aims to “preserve, develop, and promote the richness and integrity of our mother-language for the benefit of our compatriots, who by life circumstances find themselves in a foreign land, of a different language and under a different flag.”  The association would gather a number of writers and poets like Flavio Perri, Gregory Rabassa, Beti Rozen, William Parreiras, Antonio Massa, Daria Farion, Jordan Young, Clifford Landers, among others.

In 2001 Domício Coutinho was awarded the Carioca Academy of Letters medal of merit Araripe Junior, and in 2002, he was admitted as Commander to the Order of Rio Branco by former Brazilian President Fernando Henrique Cardoso.

In the same year, 2002, he created the Medal of Merit Machado de Assis, to honor those who, in the opinion of their peers, had achieved a degree of excellence in the arts and literature.