Newton Cunha is graduated in journalism at the University of São Paulo (USP) and post-graduated in philosophy at the Catholic University (PUC-SP). He had the opportunity to follow the course "Sociology of Adults and Leisure Education" at the Sorbonne Faculty of Education, under the guidance of Professor Joffre Dumazedier, when he was a socio-cultural educator at SESC in São Paulo.

He later became a translator of books on art, literature and philosophy, at the invitation of Professor Jacó Guinsburg, also founder of the publishing house Perspectiva.