Santander Cultural Center

The "Santander Cultural" is an artistic center of Rio Grande do Sul for visual art, cinema, music and lectures. It is a beautiful old building, located downtown in Centro. Among other activities, I like their "Oficina de Choro e Samba". Every Saturday at 14:00 and 17:00 they have an informal, free of charge show of a choro band. People of all ages play music just for the fun of it.
They also have shows of Brazilian musicians and singers for very good prices. The monthly program can be found on their website.

In the lower part of the building there's a nice cafe, in a volt shape and an exhibition of all the Brazilian past coins and notes.
Address: Rua Sete de Setembro, 1028 Centro - Porto Alegre