Spain/ 6.2 Public cultural expenditure  

6.2.3 Sector breakdown

Table 3:     Direct state cultural expenditure and transfers: by sector, in thousand EUR, in %, 2010

Source:     Ministry of Education, Culture and Sport (2012) Cultural Statistics Yearbook 2012.
*                 The Domain/Subdomains are those included in the Cultural Statistics Yearbook 2012.
**              Current and capital transfers.

In 2010, the central government spent EUR 1 050 642 on culture, of which 32.7% corresponded to current and capital transfers to other levels of government and private actors. This percentage has increased by more than five percentage points compared to 2007, in which transfers accounted, on average, for 27.5% of total cultural spending. In both years, programmes addressing cultural diffusion and cooperation (with 93.5% in 2010), cinema (with 82.4% in 2010) and books (69% in 2010) concentrated the highest levels of transfers on total cultural spending, contributing the most to the artistic and cultural activities of other levels of government and private actors. In this line, the current State Secretary for Culture has expressed his willingness to prioritise current transfers to support and encourage the sector in an eminently austere environment.

By sectors, the central government in 2010 spent approximately 50% of its resources for culture on the historic and artistic heritage sector, since its area of competence covers mainly the large museums and national monuments. In second place are the resources allocated to cultural diffusion and cooperation at home and abroad, which are particularly important in a country with a high level of internal decentralisation and a firm international commitment to Latin America. With 17.9% of cultural spending in 2010, both programmes are becoming increasingly important in the cultural action of the central administration. The third largest area of spending was performing arts and music, with 15%, and with a clear predominance of music, since the central government is responsible for the national and lyric orchestras. Finally, cinema production (11.4%) concentrates a large part of the resources allocated to the culture industries. The allocation of central government resources among different cultural sectors has remained more or less equal during the last five years.

Table 4:     Direct regional cultural expenditure and transfers: by sector, in thousands of EUR, in %, 2010

Source:     Ministry of Education, Culture and Sport (2012) Cultural Statistics Yearbook 2012.
*                 The Domain / Subdomain are those included in the Cultural Statistics Yearbook 2012.
**              Current and capital transfers.

In 2010, the autonomous governments spent EUR 1 769 059 000 on culture, of which approximately 40% corresponded to current and capital transfers to other levels of government and private actors, a higher rate (5.5 points) than that spent by the central government on the same items of expenditure.

The sectors in which the autonomous governments are most active are historical and artistic heritage (37.3%) and interdisciplinary spending (32.4%), which together receive approximately 70% of public spending on culture. The volume of spending on heritage is due to its high symbolic value and its importance as a public asset in the development of cultural tourism. In the case of interdisciplinary spending, significant sums are allocated to cultural promotion, diffusion and cooperation and to language policy. In any case, there are large divergences between the various autonomous communities. As for the rest of the sectors, performance arts and music spending predominates (20.3%), given their local importance.

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