Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez has announced that in 2022 teenagers over the age of 18 will receive a voucher worth 400 Euros! They will be able to spend it on everything related to culture – books, concerts, movie or theater tickets. This provides for the new national scheme of the Spanish government, which is worth 200 million Euros.
Approximately 500,000 young people will be eligible for a pass next year. The voucher is taken from the Spanish Ministry of Culture and Sports. Spanish Culture Minister Mikel Ista Lorenz explains: “It’s like an 18th birthday present and I’d be happy if they spend it at the opera or a classical music concert,” the culture minister told local media.
Announcing the project, Prime Minister Sanchez said the measure would improve young people’s access to culture, while helping the Spanish cultural industry, which suffered financially during the Covid-19 pandemic. The organizers of the traditional bullfights also asked to be part of the planned cultural program, but the government did not approve the proposal.
Later, the Ministry of Culture and Sports announced in a written statement to the state news agency Efe that “not everything that our legislation considers to be a culture will fall under this cultural program.” especially among the younger ones. But it remains a popular attraction for tourists.
France and Italy have introduced similar schemes to promote the cultural industry, but Spain is the first to implement the idea. Vice President Yolanda Diaz wrote on Twitter that “supporting the arts and the future of young people is an essential condition of the budget, which should serve as a boost to culture.”
The money will be divided into cultural sections so that the total amount of the voucher is spent on many cultural activities, instead of all being collected in one direction. These sections are yet to be announced by the government.
The news of the voucher comes just days after Spanish authorities announced a government scheme that would give 18- to 35-year-old middle-income residents a monthly discount of 250 Euros on monthly rent.
Spain is not the first to implement this. It has already been implemented in France, where young people went and bought huge amounts of mangas (japanese comic books).