At the regional level, Spain is divided into seventeen Autonomous Communities (and two cities with autonomous status), which exercise broad powers in cultural matters. The Constitution grants them both executive and regulatory authority in areas traditionally subject to public intervention, such as museums, libraries, the performing arts, and crafts. National museums, libraries, and archives remain under state ownership; however, in most cases, their day-to-day management has been delegated to the Autonomous Communities.
The involvement of regional governments in cultural affairs has traditionally been greater in those communities with their own language and in the so-called “historic nationalities”, that is, those that first obtained administrative autonomy: Andalusia, the Basque Country, Catalonia, and Galicia (Article 151 of the 1978 Spanish Constitution). At present, only Catalonia has assigned responsibility for cultural affairs to a dedicated department, while the remaining regional governments have opted for mixed structures in which culture is administered jointly with education, tourism, language policy, innovation, and/or sports.
The regions have played an active role in preserving heritage and developing cultural infrastructure. In those regions with their own language, cultural policies often focus on strengthening regional identity, particularly through statutory initiatives aimed at promoting and protecting these languages.
Similar to the national level, regional cultural administrations tend to have relatively lightweight structures. The coexistence of central administrative units and autonomous agencies is also common, with various regions incorporating autonomous bodies within their departmental frameworks, for example:
- Regional policy on reading and literature promotion in Catalonia is entrusted to an autonomous public body, the Institució de les Lletres Catalanes (Institute of Catalan Literature).
- In Andalusia, the management of cultural programmes is delegated to the Andalusian Agency for Cultural Institutions, an entity governed by public law.
- In Galicia, the Galician Centre of Contemporary Art operates as a key public institution in the field of contemporary culture.
- In the Region of Murcia, policies for the promotion, development, protection, and dissemination of the arts and cultural industries are entrusted to the Institute for Cultural Industries and the Arts.
- In the Valencian Community, the Valencian Institute of Culture is the public body responsible for implementing the regional government’s cultural policies, particularly in the fields of the performing arts, music, audiovisual sectors, and cultural heritage.
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