Spain/ 6. Financing of culture  

6.1 Short overview

The majority of public cultural expenditure in Spain comes from regional and local governments, which together represent 85% of public cultural spending (see chapter 6.2). This shows the decentralised nature of the Spanish model in which territorial authorities assume most of the responsibility for culture.

The economic crisis has affected cultural budgets on all levels of government. Strong adjustment measures taken by the central government to reduce the public deficit have particularly affected the Ministry of Culture. Thus, over the last three years, cultural spending by the central administration has suffered a 25% reduction in the budget for 2010, 14% for 2011, and 15% for 2012. According to the Popular Party, the cultural budget for 2012 basically responded to two premises: on the one hand, to ensure the functioning of "core" institutions and cultural services and, on the other hand, to progress the construction of complementary models of financing, with the greater participation of civil society. The situation is equally worrying in regional and local administrations, whose debt levels have reached the highest records.

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