Spain Launches Free Culture Pass Initiative

Teenagers turning 18 from 2022 may receive a 400-Euro culture pass from the Spanish government to spend on the arts, from concert tickets to videogames

The Orquesta Nacional de España

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez announced this as part of a national €200 million program where around 500,000 18-year-olds will be eligible for the culture pass — to be distributed by Spain’s Ministry for Culture and Sports.

The pass is being treated as a “birthday present” for those turning 18 next year and can be spent on anything from music, theatre, or dance concert tickets to cinema and videogames. However, the pass will not cover subscriptions to streaming platforms. 

Prime Minister Sánchez explained that this new arrangement is aimed to improve young people’s access to culture while assisting pandemic-related financial losses to the Spanish culture industry.

“It is a measure that is committed to young people and to an industry that has suffered so much in these months of the pandemic," Prime Minister Sánchez explained.

Similar projects are being undertaken in both Italy and France, whose governments have respectively distributed €500 and €300 bonuses for young people to spend on culture. 

The free culture pass announcement comes days after the Spanish government proposed launching a housing scheme providing 18 to 35-year-old mid-income earners a monthly €250 discount off their rent.

Vice-president Yolanda Díaz and leader of Unidas Podemos, expressed that “supporting the arts and young people’s futures is an essential condition in the budget, which must act as an impulse for culture.”