Spain/ 8.2 Cultural consumption and participation  

8.2.2 Policies and programmes

One of the main objectives of the Ministry of Education, Culture and Sport is to encourage cultural participation, which it hopes to achieve through initiatives such as the plans to encourage reading; Christmas programming of state-owned museums; the loan of artworks among museums and art centres; concert, theatre and dance tours; the programme of subsidies for promoting the performing arts and live music performances and online accessibility of many cultural resources, among others. The evaluation of some of these programmes shows how they have contributed to the increase in cultural consumption levels, as indicated in chapter 8.2.1.

Among the initiatives of the Ministry of Culture (today Ministry of Education, Culture and Sport) to inform the public about cultural activities are the Ministry's Portal and the canalMCU (Ministry's Channel) that, through youtube, allows access to audiovisual content on the cultural activity carried out by the current State Secretariat for Culture and its institutions.

Traditionally the main initiatives to foster participation in culture at the regional level are those based on the building or restoration of performing arts institutions, mainly as part of the National Plan of Rehabilitation of Theatres and Concert Halls, or the establishment of networks for the performing arts and music circulation. Contemporary arts centres built in recent times and some symphonic orchestras and auditoriums also carry out activities aimed at generating new concert- or exhibition-goers by means of introductory programmes for potential enthusiasts. The Cultural Bonus (abolished in mid-2012) was created by the Andalusian government to promote and facilitate young people's access to supply in this area. It consisted of a book of vouchers that were redeemable for various art and cultural products and services. The Andalusian community also established the Abecedaria Programme, a joint initiative of the Departments of Education and Culture. This programme (September 2009) received the award for the most effective action to create audiences in Spain, given by the International Fair of Theatre and Dance in Huesca (Aragon, 23rd Edition). Abecedaria is a circuit of performing arts, music and audiovisual performances for students in the Andalusian municipalities that adhere to the programme. With the aim of promoting the market for artistic and cultural production, the Department of Culture of the Basque Country launched the so-called Culture Bonus, similar to that distributed in Andalusia, which subsidises the purchase of cultural products. With this initiative, the user pays for a culture bonus of EUR 25 and gets a purchase value of EUR 40. It can be used to purchase books and music media, as well as tickets for museums, theatre and other cultural events.

To increase cultural consumption among young people, the Youth Institute and its replicas at the regional level distribute the Euro<26 card, which gives youth discounts of between 10% and 100% on tickets for museums, theatres, cinemas and music festivals. There are also discounts available for pensioners and students, usually provided by local authorities, including free entrance to museums and discounts on cinema and theatre tickets.

In terms of preserving audiovisual heritage, the Spanish Film Archive, established in 1953, is entrusted with the custody of the Spanish film heritage. Dependent on the Institute of Cinematography and Audiovisual Arts, its mission is to recover, research, preserve and promote awareness of Spain's film heritage. Among the initiatives carried out by the Spanish Film Archive there is the signature of agreements with universities for the training of students through internship programmes and participation in postgraduate courses. Although the dissemination of film heritage is primarily carried out by the Doré cinema, the Spanish Film Archive is working to expand its Internet offer with new works and documents of Spanish film heritage (for details see: http://www.rtve.es/filmoteca/). Moreover, in the near future, the new Centre for the Conservation of Film Collections of the Spanish Film Archive will open its doors in Madrid to collect the films that at present are dispersed in various spaces of the autonomous community.

At regional level there are Film Archives in Andalusia, Aragon, Balearic Islands, the Basque Country, Canarias, Cantabria, Castile-La Mancha, Castile-Leon, Catalonia, Extremadura, Galicia, Murcia, and the Valencian Community. The Francisco Rabal' Film Archive (Murcia) is leading the International Film and Heritage Festival, organised by the Department of Culture and Tourism of Murcia. This is an annual event dedicated to both the recovery of film heritage and the presentation of films that address the recovery, restoration, creation, awareness, interpretation and dissemination of cultural assets related to human activity. Also of note are the existence of the Museum of the Cinema in Gerona (Catalonia) and the Madrid Film Museum.

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