168 percent more manga
Young people understand culture: Eiichiro Oda
Which: Eiichirō Oda
In Germany, a “culture pass” for 18-year-olds is to be introduced next year. In France one is already further. First experiences of what young people spend their culture money on surprise – and outrage. Because a culture division benefits very one-sidedly.
In France, the state has increased the pocket money of all 18-year-olds by 300 euros. With the “culture pass”, which was introduced nationwide after a test phase last year, young people can buy books, tickets for concerts, festivals or theater performances and, up to a certain limit, also consume music, films and games digitally.
Emmanuel Macron has thus kept one of his election promises. “Giving everyone access to culture” is his goal, as the presidential candidate put it in 2017. At the time, Macron was referring to the Italian model, the “bonus cultura”, also known as the “Renzi bonus”, because the then Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi had introduced. Spain followed last year and now Germany wants to follow suit. Minister of State for Culture Claudia Roth has announced that in the coming year all 18-year-olds will receive a credit worth 200 euros, which they can redeem at local cultural providers.
The German passport is not a pure copy of the French model. A few differences are obvious. In France, there is 100 euros more for an 18th birthday than in Germany, and a total of 500 euros are given away for culture per person. Because the experience of the first year has shown that you have to introduce the young people to the passport and its possibilities. Therefore, as of this year, 15 to 17 year olds are also entitled. It starts at 45 euros, from 16 there is 55 euros and at 18 there is a generous gift of 300 euros. But before the 18th birthday about half of the money has to be spent collectively through the school. It therefore flows primarily into cultural excursions, into joint visits to plays or concerts.
Depending on the age group and class size, around 800 euros are available per class per year, with which two to three visits to the event can be financed. According to the Ministry of Culture, 80 percent of teachers now use this option. Overall, the French culture pass costs the state more than twice as much as the German version. The federal government has earmarked 100 million euros in the budget, in France it is 246 million this year. And next year, the pass should start as soon as you enter middle school.
French is a requirement
However, digital culture consumption is limited. If you are under 18, you can only use the pass for e-books, audio books or newspaper subscriptions. Some video games may also be bought from the age of 18, but they must have an “artistic, creative, educational or cultural character” and be written in French. So no “Call of Duty” or “Fortnite” as a gift from the Elysée Palace for the 18th birthday.
The Paris government can now look back on a year and a half of experience with the Kulturpass, and the official balance is positive: 2.2 million users have now been registered, and it is hoped that the four million mark will be exceeded within the next few months. Critics complain that the desired diversity is not far off.
Young people understand culture: Eiichiro Oda
Which: Eiichirō Oda
86 percent of the budget of young people under 18 flowed into books, with adults it is 78 percent. The young adults invested just under seven percent of their budget in music, for example in a Deezer subscription, concert tickets or the purchase of CDs or vinyls. They bought cinema tickets for five percent, another five flowed into TV subscriptions. Only two percent was invested in drawing and dance courses or the purchase of an instrument. The French trade union of cultural institutions (Syndeac) is particularly harsh on the culture pass: “There have never been so many millions for such a poorly put together package, which essentially benefits private actors,” said a Syndeac representative the first year.
Although the book market can feel like the winner of the initiative with 86 or 78 percent of cultural consumption, the diversity is poor: more than half of the books reserved via the Kulturpass app are manga, which is why the Japanese comics are celebrating circulation records in France. Last year 14 million were sold, an increase of 168 percent. First up is Eiichiro Oda’s “One Piece” – a manga that has sold over 500 million copies worldwide. The world bestseller did not need any advertising, nor does its sale benefit the French cultural scene.
Jean-Philippe Tanguy, a member of parliament for the right-wing populist Rassemblement National (RN), felt compelled to introduce a bill at the end of October that would exclude manga from the Kulturpass offer because reading it was “not a genuinely cultural activity”. Tanguy was not even able to find a majority for his motion within his own group.
A book is a book, argue French booksellers, who benefited most from the pass before any other cultural institution. The fact that young people can’t order their manga from online dealers, but have to pick it up in the bookstore, you could get into conversation with them and introduce them to other comics or even fiction, so the argument goes.