Spain’s cultural industry will soon get a boost.
Photo: Europa Press via Getty Images, Europa Press News. All rights reserved.
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The culture industry has experienced severe setbacks worldwide as a result of the pandemic. The Spanish government now wants to counteract this and is therefore planning to give all 18-year-olds in their country a cultural voucher. This can be spent on festivals, events, books, vinyl and digital music.
400 euros for music, books and concerts
The Spanish Council of Ministers officially approved the youth culture bonus last week (March 23). The aim is to strengthen the ailing cultural and creative industries again.
It will be a digital voucher that the beneficiaries will be allowed to use within a year. The total value is 400 euros. The areas to be supported by the voucher are already divided: 200 euros are available for live events and festivals and 100 euros each for physical and digital products. Since the voucher is earmarked, it cannot be used to purchase items such as food or school books.
France and Italy also rely on cultural vouchers
Similar actions had already taken place several years ago in Italy and recently in France. There is still no comparable offer in Germany. The federal government invested 2.5 billion euros in the “Neustart Kultur” project, which was intended to compensate for the consequences of the pandemic for the German cultural sector. This was used to fund various programs, including those to support dancers, musicians and authors as well as cultural institutions. However, funding is mainly provided upon application.
Creating and maintaining access to culture
The main difference is that cultural consumers in Spain will soon be able to decide for themselves who they want to support with their money and at the same time benefit from it themselves.
The Spanish government’s statement said it wanted to “provide young people with universal and diverse access to culture, create new habits of cultural consumption and strengthen existing ones, create new audiences, stimulate demand and reduce the negative impact of the pandemic on the different cultural sectors decrease in our country”.
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